emily dickinson -- untitled

[syntheticmuse.livejournal.com]

I Felt a cleavage in my mind
As if my brain had split;
I tried to match it, seam by seam,
But could not make them fit.

The thought behind I strove to join
Unto the thought before,
But sequence ravelled out of reach
Like balls upon a floor.

(no subject)

[silverflurry.livejournal.com]

Mermaid Song
Kim Addonizio

for Aya at fifteen

Damp-haired from the bath, you drape yourself
upside down across the sofa, reading,
one hand idly sunk into a bowl
of crackers, goldfish with smiles stamped on.
I think they are growing gills, swimming
up the sweet air to reach you. Small girl,
my slim miracle, they multiply.
In the black hours when I lie sleepless,
near drowning, dread-heavy, your face
is the bright lure I look for, love's hook
piercing me, hauling me cleanly up.

"Promising Lights" by DM Reyes

[dreamlessness]

Fierce for air, I have wished
to escape on sacred wings.
Elsewhere, the night opened
a window so I could fly,
and turn away where hands
slashed the hearts of angels.

Wine-blue gemstone, grain
and blooms of amaranth
in her hand, the stone angel
shatters. Conjuring a parfait
of lights, she falls to the rough
earth, sentient with love.

Your gaze lends pain
to their rain dance --
swifts crossing the grass to
cables dripping wet with water-
drops, to branches drunk
with rain, and every time --
higher and higher,
until I lose them.

After my eyes have endured
rainfall and silence,
a timely rainbow appears
north of the promising lights,
declaring love
even in this absence
of angels.