42opus
is an online magazine of the literary arts.
2 March 2004 | Vol. 4, No. 1
Meditations in Desert Snow
Snow, Snow, I'm in love with the dead,
with this white and broken air—
Without stars there is nothing to keep you
from slowing the sky.
So, what remains?
*
Calamus of a raven—rachis, unkindness—
asleep in the wind,
in the inexplicable nest of exile,
the sheen of ice on its back
remains a constellation
of its own body.
*
Cuneiformed footprints of ravens in snow
mimic their flight—mimic the bend of night-reeds.
*
Snow, you are the spilled milk of the dead,
the silk of muscle draped over this tenement
of bones, the last nothingness the desert
folds into its arms before it sleeps.
*
Morning will transfigure the land,
will melt down to nothing again.
*
Winter begins—in the Mission,
the tourists are pinning prayers
to the reclining saint's blanket:
*
Honor and grace for the Air National Guard
because Lord, I need this.
*
Autumn ends—the dark hair of a woman
ribboning the wind. Holy Virgin of Sorrows,
Holy Mother of Refuge,
tear these plasters from my eyes.
*
There is no autumn here. What remains?
Silk cassock, rose galloon, ten hunks of salt.
*
In silence and for silence,
the snow doesn't say
what I don't want to hear.
Mea culpa, mea culpa—
ravens forgiving the thick air.
About the author:
Recently, Joshua Poteat has won awards from Poetry Society of America/National Chapbook Award, Catskill Writing Workshop, American Literary Review, Nebraska Review, River City, Universities West Press, Vermont Studio Center, San Francisco State University/American Poetry Archives, and was featured in Vol. 2 no. 1 of Blackbird: an online journal of literature and the arts. His work is also part of the international traveling exhibition Pivot Points, which features three interconnected generations of painters and poets. Upcoming work will appear in Crazyhorse. Joshua lives in Richmond, Virginia, where he edits assorted texts, including art criticism in collaboration with the art historian Dr. Robert Hobbs. He is available for any of your freelance editing/proofreading needs.
Source:
http://42opus.com/v4n1/meditationsindesertsnow