Up Close

the glossed fibers of the box,

as I saw them last, were accentuated by the finish,

the deep coloring that makes wood look more

like the wood of our scrutinous imagination;

we saw each fiber clearly,

years we counted as children

packed together under the pressure of life

and again, in dirt, with your death;

is it coincidence or irony we bury, both,

seeds of life and embalmed shells of minds we loved

encased in embalmed arboreous corpses?

you would say nothing if I asked this,

partially because you are no less

than six feet away from me at any given moment,

partially because your consciousness, as I imagine it,

is too close for me to touch, our mouths gummed shut

Where There is No Distance

Amidst cries and clothes torn from the body

encircling the wooden chest where her body is lain,

instants of silence bring the hand of God, his finger

fixed upon the observer, the daughter’s daughter’s son.

At first, nothing, the peace of mind’s silence; but currents

from the Holy finger jolt the brain, shatter peace from its nucleus,

the silence temple broken, the language of God no longer abused

as thoughts begin to speak, a blue wave’s light crash upon a white beach.

Glorious lies from the archives of consciousness glint with soft light

but burn like a spark to the skin as space is kept but reticence dies,

the brown forever wrinkled skin of her face unembalmed emerges

to meet God. They go in silence and all that is left are the bones of memory.

I, the grave robber, salvage these gems, dissect them to the marrow

and show no one the findings. Only my notes are left, the marginal text

aside the equation between us and paradise -- she told us to be kind, to pray,

to believe in God, but only through the murder of His silence can they be together.