Five hundred million years ago nature could only dream
of the kind of life that you are. Back then love existed in
dissolution. Smokestacks of ozone. Topaz trilobites squatted
in prayer. A generation of gods later, you appear. In hands,
and a voice wanton as deserts in spate. In eyes that own
all that they touch. A personal punishment for the planet
that bred original sin. My dearest killing blow, you are so
far but it’s inconsequential: I notice you imbued in
the deepest sinews of atoms. A presence as permanent
as this flesh is delicate. Did you know the full moon sweats
in terror at your beauty? To adore you is to challenge
every single eternal, universal falsehood. Every syndrome
of creation. I don’t wonder, anymore, if cloud forests long
for dust storms. I know they do, and I know you do. Please
know there is strength here that could devour the divine.
your poems are magic, just astonishing
Em edit: Erin you keep making my day!!
Em–you have a way with imagery! Very lush and gorgeous, my favorite is “topaz trilobites/squatted in prayer.” The poem reads as very antediluvian, mythic but without falling into the territory of being over the top. Towards the end it takes a turn to the personal, especially the last bit: “Please/know there is a strength here that could devour the divine.” Seems to hint at an intimacy between the speaker and their intended? Almost as if “original sin” is being revisited. I feel like this could be expanded into a whole set of poems, or even a short story! 🙂