Tuesday, December 31, 2013

We Are Here



We Are Here

Are you there, Richard—
painting the appalled tints
of your drenched father’s blood,
unseen by anyone
until the master stroke falls?

            From Broadmoor, faintly:
            I am here.

Are you there, William—
singing your brother’s soul to heaven
three days straight
as angels in the frosty hawthorn
applaud your feat?

            The Devil’s Deny
            is His greatest Lie:    
            Yes, I am Here!

Are you there, Yayoi—
wise chooser of asylum,
elective permanent retreat
where the feverish swarming dots
surge undefiled in fiber?            

            From a rice paper plane:
            I am here
            I am here.

Are you there, Xu Wei,
Vincent, are you there—
airless marauders of pearl               
from shells of glutinous striving  
for ocean’s moment?                       

            From a bower of grapes
            and unlaced boots:
            Yes, we are here.             

Are you there, Judy—
daubing holy rape
upon tissues of nightgown  
by bedsides in the undark ward     
where your smashed face shines?

            In murmur tinier than a fly’s:
            I am...here.

Are you there—
my years and heroes,
avatars of shatter and rebar,     
shard reconveners,
my undead selves your peers?

            Firmly, through the collapsed
            masonry, rubble’s echo climbs:    
            We are here. We are here.



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