pinned to the world with a breath

by Silas

Posted to Poetry on 2003-11-04 00:41:00

i watched the searing heat
leave the desert like a mushroom cloud
while wax starlings melted
their wings sticking to the
rocks with the sheen of birds
and the scent of candles

the man at the table crushes a cigarette packet
camel crushed and rolled across formica clouds
while the ceiling fan pushes the air in waves
the humidity connecting humans through their nostrils
like a thread drawing us together with a pressing pungency
pleasant and unpleasant
what did someone say about duality?

a blow-fly lands in a glass
repugnant but nonchalant
wings stir and buzz
aerodome black motorcycle death defying
gravity
he’s out and free
smelling freedom through louvre windows
like a blind man smells it in a blouse

i love all this
i can’t see it as well as the blind man
it’s clear but lacking definition
there are cars on the highway
trucks and tricks of light hauling across the twilight
dragging infinitely long shadows through grave yards
and ghost towns

the louvre window has a wire mesh
i’m panicking
feeling for a hole
sniffing for fresh air like a dog
an aircraft screams overhead
looking for a hole
we’ll die here

walking in a heat wave praying to dissolve
god i’ve seen it and loved it and hated it
and felt it and smelled it grieved for it
and celebrated it but now i know it’s empty
and i smell fresh air and there’s a wire mesh in the window

there’s a guy pushing an empty packet
he says ‘you are full of blood,
and if you stop breathing for even a short time…’
and it’s true
we’re held here with a narrow hinge
the in-breath and the out-breath
we are all angels
pinned to the world with a breath

sadness and happiness evaporate
the evening breeze flows over the landscape
like an eye lash on a person falling asleep in slow motion
we say good night to the stars and the oceans
we say good night to gods and monsters
we say good night to our neighbours and strangers
and we pray for a hole in the mesh