a poem has been following me
it surfaces in the undertones of conversation
streaks across my path with a sly wink while i’m driving
it whispers in the prickle of sweat across my skin, naked in a cold breeze
arises in the dark at the opening of my mouth, mingling with my breath
i find it in the curve of my elbow, in wisps of hair falling across my eyes
—appearing, disappearing, reappearing—
like the moon playing with clouds or the white-muzzled face of a deer grazing
today, it caught me wholly and drew me to the edge between dusk and darkness
in a deeply-colored field, grasses and leaves glowing, it seeped into my bones
and surprised me again and again with what i already know…
each moment i am born newly out of darkness
each moment emerging,
whole.
THE VOICE OF THE POWER OF THIS WORLD
as darkness
is my shelter
i shall not
want.
it leads me
deep into the bones
of men.
as darkness
is my shelter
i find the knees
of my mother
among the stairways
of stars,
my father’s forehead
among the blind
sisters who sing
behind
the sunset.
i find
my eyes
in the dim
thigh of the dew
and i fall
among shadows
forever.
weightless
as the dying
moth
and the dusk
leads me
into the eye of the owl,
my poems,
bright rats
sliding
in the rivers
of wet grass.
i love
the snakes,
who hunt at night,
awakened
by the cooling earth
and
who emerge, slick
genital
faces
from the dark
mouth.
~ GREGORY HALL
photos: all taken by me with the exception of the snake (photo courtesy of Simon Thompson), various locations—NY, WV, & CO; 2017 - 2018.
Gregory Hall poem from: News of the Universe: Poems of Twofold Consciousness, chosen & introduced by Robert Bly.