Dawning of the Dark
Day
shuts the door and darkens
with
purple sky. After the bolt
of
sun flashes orange, it unlatches
the
night below horizon. And dark,
no
longer sullied by light, is unhinged.
Inverted
Flight
Dust
from trees
will
swirl up
but
only ash
incinerates
us.
Soon
sin will, too,
where
the fire glows.
Deep
into the pit
we
have fallen
to
assuage the guilt
that
cannot be washed
with
tears of wet remorse,
nor
elegies — the purple
plaintive
chant.
Our
song, now
lifts
into wind
stealing
our breath
as
the chokeberry
cupping
soft fruit
with
prick of briars —
its
beaks we didn’t feel,
our
movement, innocent.
A
flick of eyes, swift,
from
the lush tree,
but
from the thistle,
a
begging to pluck the berries
as
meadowlarks
flying
into starlight,
as
an uncaged moon,
as
the sun.
We
once were free
as
swallow birds,
now,
into the abyss
pulling
us down —
on
our wings,
the
weight of sin.
Diamonds
I
want to forget.
When
I press my eyes closed
to
shut out the light, I see
a
diamond mine as if the coal
blackness
is squeezed until
sparkles
grow from the dark.
They
turn raven black to purple,
then
fly into thick webs of indigo.
In
patterns, dots stream
from
inside me,
red,
green, transforming to rings
as
if pebbles rippling a pool of dark.
I
rub my eyes
through
thin fleshy lids. And rings
couple
to form trains of yellow
that
traffic on invisible rails. Hauling.
They
carry me atom-by-atom
in
carloads: my carbon, my soul.
I
open my eyes
and
it’s raining outside. The coal tar
shines
in lamplight, the moon
swallowed
by clouds.
I
don’t see
the
hard coal anymore. Disappeared
as
dust washed down the black street.
I
blink and it is gone.
But
I want to remember.
Bionote
John
C. Mannone, nominated
three times for the Pushcart, has work in The
Baltimore Review,
Conclave,
Prairie Wolf Press Review,
Tipton Poetry Journal,
Pedestal, Rose
Red Review, The
Hellroaring Review,
Curio Poetry,
Vermillion Literary
Project, Medulla
Review, Glass,
Lucid Rhythms,
Pirene’s Fountain
and others. He’s the poetry editor for Silver
Blade, an adjunct
professor of physics, and a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador. Visit
The Art of Poetry
at http://jcmannone.wordpress.com.
[Posted on 26 November 2012]
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