Dare whisper don't chest heave a rose through
teeth high file a prayer as you lean in . kiss
the forehead not the lip | hold the heat let need
plead clear the air; and Listen : for you one
breath score Sent ~ the balance wind gauge
find.
Weird this to share
with any one who would believe ? key notes
struck in open casket you released . the light
swish felt ¿ source close . so, Where’s the evidence?
Wreaths of complaint : the body lay
buffed tight so ! tributes seal scar issues . flowers
matter little till this day.
Wreaths in reverse : I see
now! admit much I got wrong. I would right hand
cantabile play things over . Everest flag brag take
back as papers breast itch fingers sorting left
lump confirmation wait.
Breath’s worth something . anything ? who
grants a poke, sucks trickle love ¿ who’d rapids
elevated run . yet for the plunge save nothing.
As front wheels up the heavens fork below
spread wide peacock hung notes gong perdendosi
shivers fold | come what, wings looking good,
next there all even.
– W.W.
LESSING
The yellow-orange dawn-light blazing ,spreading
Through the janelas leading out past trompe l’oeil
Sacadas wall-bound outside the open drapes,
Now calls him to do his last transporting: of himself,
This sky-high room become his balloon of breath
Whose walls he would puncture from within
To fly above the map of all his failures
And losses so vital to his knowing what
True success and winning might begin to mean
In some other zone of breath-beyond-breathing
Where a clarity beyond all rigmarole-traps reigns.
(from “Charon’s Anchors” by Brian Chan, 2018)
FARJOURNEY CARIBBEAN 