There is courage in relaxing
Into the arms of the shadow,
Knowing that the daystar may not saunter in
Pulled by flaming horses,
Preceded by attendants .

Forget,
And a reset .

Color may sprinkle in
From the monotone periphery,
And like a flipbook flapping
Faster and faster . . .

Within the papery flutter

One foot in front of the other,
A character enters the scene,
Speaks the lines .

*[ WSB ]_.

Codex wood block of
Beech leaves bound,
Larger than pamphlet;

Spined with cover stretched
Around linear text
Glyphs recording speech.

The unmatched intimacy of reading
Alone, the art of meeting in media
Finding meaning :

Whilom voices catapult beyond
All calculus,
Offering counsel and company .

Biology gone,
The ghost, an invited guest,
Whispers in one’s ear—
A comfortable challenge .

A silver stitchery
Fastens the patchwork
Of the cosmic quilt .

Fish shimmer in twilight
Within, chambers drum softly :
A warm tide gathers
And the current circles back.
Together, two swimmers rest .

Fish start, the heart :
A balloon tube twist and tie
For pooling chambers
Pumping a nutritious sea
Through veins and arteries ;

Hand-in-hand at the fringes,
Catching a breath,
Continuing a loving loop,
Swimming together .

The nurseries dwindle and old stars dim,
Oceans dry up where fish used to swim,
Whole nations of culture erased from slate,
Dwarfed by darkness, songs evaporate .

Like heavy erasers beaten into the night,
They cloud the deepness with a mournful white,
A chalky nebula drifting in space,
Loosely holding shapes time tried to efface .

Galaxies pass through each other like ghosts.
Dusty ancestral memories afloat
Can coalesce from weak forces afar
And regain shimmer as a newborn star .

*[ WSB ]_.

The bar is so low
It rules out any limbo—
Just step lightly and crow

*[ WSB ]_.