A Deep Dark Line
I’m so excited about the wound
That stretches across the skin
Division under a toothed piece of glass
Opens to a field of circumspection-
Can’t we agree we can’t take back what’s lost
In the quiet now a pond settles our reflection
Sinuous strands motion for us under current
Rotten stumps of bark-a lonely plot of grass
The pig-headed calm before the blitz of rain
A deep dark line numbs the nipping tiny fish
Surface of the Moon
Now if someone would take the time to ask how you feel
Instead of making the same old small talk
You’d know just what to do with your pager
You might not even worry so much about the accent
Slinging your arm round to the backseat
Why you might even step over the line and ask me
Always with the same curiosity in the back of your mind
Could I be someone interested in a gloomy driver
I would catch you in the mirror and know
Time would be a factor and that camera pinned to the visor
Would someday reveal that the passion was exactly that
And not just a quirky fantasy I’ve had for so long
Because I’ve always wanted to prove I’m not really that way
I’d never hold the exotic shadows the moon casts on your face
Against you
Prayer for the Selfish
What we want is to say the most eloquent thing
To stop the world dead in its tracks
Our advice would come out like a stammer
A diplomatic slap to the cheek
But when we think of what the monkeys go through
And the rabbits leaking Javex from their eyes
A tissue will do or a sock jammed in our mouths
Because if we could sit still for an hour
Then it would be a cinch
Only the nighttime would be a bother
And the tunnel underground
Would come as a relief
To have that moment to ourselves
To kneel and let each breath curl into itself
And evolve into distant wisdom for untrained ears
_______________________
Desi Di Nardo’s work has been published in numerous North American and international journals and anthologies, performed at the National Arts Centre, featured in Poetry on the Way on the Toronto Transit Commission, selected by Canada’s Parliamentary Poet Laureate, and displayed in the Official Residences of Canada. See www.desidinardo.com
Copyright ©2008, Desi Di Nardo and Spinozablue. All Rights Reserved.