Ripened to Bewilderment



Lines broken just so, this

way, not that, turn

the eye of a phrase

from plodding construction

to miracles sudden

at the end of it, sudden

at the drop of a hat, sudden

at a dry leaf on the walk, sudden

at maple seeds spinning space

from sky to earth on breezes

that rise and fall without reason.



Mirror walls double what is not

there by design, mirror river

that doubles without it. One sun

rises while another sinks on

water that reaches eyes' horizon

and if you believe them

could end where the earth does.

              Train sings

a capella with children until

school stops them, unable to read

the epistemology of their morning

song learning to spell what they know

how to say, while they fill the space

of a half-full car in every way

three children making places

in it can imagine, and a fourth

who joins them half way there. They

would like to dwell on this in corners

of eyes striking other poses; but

                        they will stop at prose-

making, ripened to bewilderment squatting

in the ruins of a city's poetry