USA

Fire

a mane, a chrysanthemum,
an orange-blue bear trap.
each lick grazes
the stomach of oxygen,
tasting rarified flesh.
grey bones hide in the flames
as if heat were psalms
risen from the grief of embers.

in the crude headdress,
furious fingers
strum flickery strings.
zithers, lyres, psalteries
forged of tortured gas
devour each other,
writhe to become
the music itself,
sibilant notes
that would destroy
a Stradivarius
for a few bars.

why am i looking at the fire
as if it forged spells
out of volatile memories?
there is no sorcery
in its jaws except illusion;
it doesn’t want to be seen
for what it is:
a snake mesmerizing a chickadee,
its fangs a blurry madhouse,
a pilgrimage of sufferers
on a quick journey home.

Fire

a mane, a chrysanthemum,
an orange-blue bear trap.
each lick grazes
the stomach of oxygen,
tasting rarified flesh.
grey bones hide in the flames
as if heat were psalms
risen from the grief of embers.

in the crude headdress,
furious fingers
strum flickery strings.
zithers, lyres, psalteries
forged of tortured gas
devour each other,
writhe to become
the music itself,
sibilant notes
that would destroy
a Stradivarius
for a few bars.

why am i looking at the fire
as if it forged spells
out of volatile memories?
there is no sorcery
in its jaws except illusion;
it doesn’t want to be seen
for what it is:
a snake mesmerizing a chickadee,
its fangs a blurry madhouse,
a pilgrimage of sufferers
on a quick journey home.

Day and Night Adorn a Lake

light richochets
through mazy willows,
ignites liquid azure,
splinters across shiners
in depthless afternoon.

it coaxes the blush
of evening purples,
flirts with the slink
of night’s hem while
shadows cling

to the biceps of oaks,
and an owl rides the canopy
like the prophetic gaze
of a diffuse cyclops.

colors sleep
under pendulous moon,
joy incubates
in cricket songs

until dawn
uncorks the sun,
rushing across drowsy water
like tinsel butterflies.

© All Copyright, Chris Crittenden.
All Rights Reserved. Printed By Permission.