by Marc Awodey
Marc Awodey has published two books, and several chapbooks. His collections Telegrams from the Psych Ward and Other Poems (2000) and New York: A Haibun Journey (2003) are available worldwide on Amazon.com. His poetry has appeared in hundreds of publications including: Humanitas, Plainsong, Midwest Poetry Review, Portland Review, Writer's Journal, and Lexicon. Awodey holds an MFA from Cranbrook Academy of Art, and lives in Burlington, VT.
"The
Seasons" -- "A Laughter of Fugues"
"In This Field" --
"Our Empty Sea"
The Seasons
Vagrant ghosts
found passage home
guided by each other, Anubis or other myths
into
caverns hewn from onyx and
anthracite.
They watched without eyes in
vagabondage;
of the womb of spring yellow shoots arose,
betwixt
summer and spring, exaltations
raised their nests
in summer an
emerald canopy closed.
Between summer and autumn water condensed
into
caverns of onyx and anthracite.
On motionless
faces covering homes
a mournful lantern spells in idle light
words
from languages momentarily
undecipherable.
In summer an emerald
canopy closed
to conceal towns founded on old dialects,
in silent
yards measuring ruinous
night
are places where neighbors no longer
speak.
A mournful lantern spells in idle light
constellations sewn
onto winding sheets
of land.
Autumn leaves fell like a wing from
grace
to mingle with newspaper, books, and grass
in silent yards
measuring ruinous night.
Summer beyond
summer was a golden curse.
In winter's mean charge the whole world froze
in autumn leaves fell like a wing from grace
of the womb of spring yellow
shoots arose
in winter's mean charge, the whole world froze.
ill-suited to see hints of flicker seen in life
vagrant ghosts found
passage home.
A Laughter of Fugues
As a laughter
of fugues coaxed nature into being
inexorable braids of lineage recessed
rudimentary wetlands waxed resplendent
microscopic creatures swarmed
in soft swale.
Inexorable
braids of lineage recessed
everlasting inclined banks to embrace
microscopic creatures swarmed in soft swale.
On seas of grass
indiscriminate rains approach
everlasting
inclined banks to embrace
into thunderheads over faraway lakes.
On
seas of grass indiscriminate rains approach
to beckon warming
circumferences of storm
into
thunderheads over faraway lakes.
Rudimentary wetlands waxed resplendent
to beckon warming circumferences of storm
as a laughter of fugues coaxed
nature into being.
