“Negative”, “I Never Meta Poet I Didn’t Like”, “View from a Corner Table”, “Intimations”, and “For Those Who Pass in Their Sleep”

By Scott Waters

 

 

Negative

A ball of black

floats in a bottomless sea

of brightness

sends out dark rays

in 360 degree

generosity

and where they strike–

fence post, bridge tower, pedestrian–

a thin shadow of light

lengthens across

unseen grass

skims on unknown water

dances on unwitnessed concrete

each shadow

a slice of brilliance

made visible

until someone

 

turns out the dark.

 

 

 

I Never Meta Poet I Didn’t Like

She sees a squirrel

eating a pomegranate

on a fence

in the rain

she will need to

write a poem

about a squirrel

eating a pomegranate

on a fence

in the rain.

 

 

 

View from a Corner Table

 

Two walls converge

in an obligatory right angle

hardwood floor receding to the door

where someone snipped off the corner

of the building

to make an entrance

 

the light inside this cafe

is grey and dim

and we swim in it

 

beyond the glass

polygons of blue

etched and hung in mid-air

on telephone poles, street signs,

building facades

and the occasional tree

 

the afternoon sunlight

daubs in the details

with a fine brush

 

light does not concern itself

with being

 

perfect

 

 

 

Intimations

 

In the shadow

of the self

 

grows a weed

that doesn’t know

 

it’s an orange

rose

 

the weed

of course

 

has no eyes

so it misses

 

how the bees

are drawn

 

to its nectar

but sometimes

 

in that dark

cold corner

 

of the forest

it feels a vibration

 

of wings

 

 

 

For Those Who Pass in Their Sleep

 

Do orange poppies wave

in the rolling green fields

of your memory

 

Do faces of childhood friends

appear at your bedside–

lanterns to guide you

back into the dark

 

Do you struggle to the surface

of a cruel dream

for one last glimpse of land

before you slip completely

under

 

Or do you go out

like a candle

 

unaware of the gathering wind

 

or like the wind

 

unaware

of the guttering

 

candle

 

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