Swift Passage

I embrace the silence of time
which flows between us like a deep
green river divides a continent, unwittingly.

With the integrity of water, pure
at source it moves the endless particles
of unconscious matter downstream, insistently.

The nature of your stillness
is not partial nor given to hostility,
but steady as the undercurrent’s implacability.

I stand opposite, reaching toward
your presence on the far bank, estranged
by the swift passage of nights to fall, indissolubly.



I am doubling up on challenges again this week:

Sanaa's Midweek Challenge asks us to draw inspiration from Pablo Neruda's poem, I like for You to be Still.
Kim's Weekend Challenge, references the poem Let Evening Come, by Jane Kenyon and asks for a pastoral theme written in tercets.

Direction

A quote as inspiration...

I have lost my sense of direction.

Once, like every little bee
with her magnetic heart, I knew

which way was north, could navigate
my flight through hurricanes, locate your open arms
in honeyed nights, and sleep despite the sting.

@skyloverpoetry

For Magaly's Weekend Challenge, a Cherita form poem, combining prompts:
Toni's "Poetry begins with a lump in the throat", and a prompt of mine from last October,
Notebook Poetry

Initiation

Shamans are said to die when they enter the spirit world through trance.

Source: San People

It begins with a smoky haze,
the sound of your own feet stamping
and tongue clicks reverberant
in your mind drawing you entranced
to the sandstone cave of your ancestors.

ǀKágge̥n rises as a shadow
thrown against the wall of your mind,
an indelible figure of hooked claws
remorselessly ripping to shreds
barriers of sanity to be let in.

With glassine eyes, he turns
to observe your fear and hungrily,
consumes the twisted dreams
churned in blood and ash of this reality:
Man is the Mantis incarnate.


This poem was inspired by the art of Quincy Washington, whose 'Blossom Hunter' mantis can be seen on Instagram @albanusdesign and can also be seen on my @skyloverpoetry page.

Fairground Attraction

 Source Material Pexels.com

Back when I worked
at the fairground
I was quite the attraction:
‘The Golden Girl’,
an exotic display
in a side-booth
for a pretty penny
or a gaudy trinket
and a drink after-hours –
until Luke, one-handed
magician, got his
vanishing act right
one night in hot July –
Now I am far less
silver than stars.


Playing catch-up this week:

Susie's Bits of Inspiration for the B&W photography challenge - I added silver and gold.
Marian's Just One Word: Trinket
Friday 55... Just because...

Demolition in Unseasonable Meantime

I’m shedding this contradictory skin,
the plaster cast of keystone calamity,
and breaking my fused jawbone
brick by mortar.
Night is the season I wake.

I’m hatching a glaring afterthought,
my temple casements unhinged,
and imploding incidental steeples
soot by slaughter.
Solar womb is the mind I create.

I’m sprouting a secondary pair of wings,
the unburdened boughs of fruitless summer,
and clouding hard bitten airwaves
tooth by laughter.
Mean time is the pattern I upbraid.


This poem is inspired by the surreal art of Cat Schappach, namely the piece entitled Avion, which can be viewed on Instagram.

The Darkest Matter

Belobog & Chernobog
Anarh1a
Used With Permission

Chernobog is the darkest matter,
haggard falcon god loathed for his permeation
of the universe, his refusal to be discovered –
We feel him uncontained within
our own wretched organic selves, closer
than baryonic heartrate and fleshly parts –

And this, we fear: our concept of person
exists in a void of inner space, an abyss of endless
foreboding that we are not here at all –
We cower behind the features
of fierce animals, we drink from the same cup,
cursing in the name of every god we know –

But art requires heart and a handhold
on sacred knowledge, that both dark and light
manifest an inherent duality of soul –
Thus we strap jesses to Belobog’s ankles,
tame the white falcon to hunt for redemption
in the lower worlds of our unconscionable minds –



Art FLASH! today features the work of Russian artist, Anarh1a. More of her work can be found on her Instagram account @anarh1a

A Praise Song

Goat Country
Kerry O'Connor
@skyloverpoetry

A Praise Song
Kerry O'Connor

A Praise Song is a poem from Skylover: Collected Works, which I have illustrated.
The Tuesday Platform at The Imaginary Garden is hosted by Sanaa today.