Pray Bones – Smith
FIRE & SHADOW
i have a buddha candle holder
he is sitting in the lotus position
the tea light goes in a slot
in front of his folded wing-like legs
when it’s lit it looks like
his crotch is on fire
& he casts the shadow
of his profile on the wall
he teaches me w/o scriptures
that though from the fiery loins
we may arrive
we are still merely shades cast
on the walls of the world
Rob Plath
BUDDHISTIC CRACK
There are eyes left to
Peal out walls old scuffs
But meaning sumthing in
The following (more) open
Hrs of dusk dawn morning twilight night
The eyes are in most rooms
The types who steal away
Rent
& All rooms the kind to
Stay inside buy.
Bree
IN THE WAY
a door handle might squeak when it has its moment to turn
or in the way the first quick release of kool-aid powder joins an afternoon kitchen.
or how the earth envelops every pet any child has ever buried and
your eyelids protect your eyes without requesting recognition or
pull your vision into an unquestioned prayer of arrival. like this –
the way your mouth opens like a curtain to the lights of an unexpected visitor and
closes like a barn door in the coldest month of winter while
your cows call to their calves and your hay awaits a season – you believe.
you believe. the way love can be a box or a paint can or
a counter and an evening breeze embraces a shutter or a chimney. you believe.
you believe without promises. without lacquer. and i believe.
i believe in the way of glaciers and ice cubes. the way i once had an agenda
then left it in a public restroom – loose pages on the floor scattered in the way
of humanoids and glyphs. i believe.
i believe in the way your evening rustles the paint chips of my side door
into the giggling lap of our fortune. in the way
one body might recycle the solitude of another. or how
greenery might wilt if left inside in the summer and my windows
are closed and my pot uncared for – roots exposed. maybe i believe
in the way of light bulbs or tablecloths. maybe
i believe in the way of dish soap or cardinals. maybe
i don’t know. but i believe in the way you believe –
how our feet are common verses sung in rounds and around any fire
sparked from the breath of nothing into warmth
or forgiveness. there’s something in all of this believing.
this belief. that stands at the height of the fierce eyes of godzilla or
the raised fist of a statue lost in reference. that stands
in the way of exchanges and fractions
rates and decimal points. that offers a talk over tea as redemption. in the way
each mile between kalamazoo and chicago has been named by an audience of
grasshoppers and squirrels (or has named them). or how love too
lives in the hands of each child who has held a wrench at eye-level
to examine its connection with monkeys. how love too
resides in a mechanic’s toolbox in the shape of a photograph
marked by age and gasket rings. how love too
is found in the hands of every carpenter or waitress every cashier or
academic who believes in the way you do – without folding. without mirrors.
in the way of moss on the north side of bark or an invincible army of laughter.
courtney campbell
Full issue available online at http://www.thecitypoetry.com/issue23/index.htm