trout

So Far: 3

Michele Leggott

13   let's be clear
I am the huntress
you desired
cleaning a flesh wound
also designated
for you are the hunter
of heaven
am I one of twelve
labours
or is the circle
twenty four?
will you step out
of the trees
when I call you
to the game?

14   past midnight
lights lighting
in the high branches
deep reaches
far festivals lighting
lights in the branches
high overhead

15   minutes
of an ecstatic literature
in collapse    o    o    o
experimentation lyricism wit
all three angels all
double deleting the record
setting the circuits ablaze
checking the alternate settings
the unreleased versions
campfires of footsteps leaving
for the end of time all night
all night long deadly snakes
in the desert boots and all
leaving no trace

16   the platoon hops along
in rubber suits carrying its flippers
and singing endorsements
that was yesterday
now the release forms include
hill work where they return
for the exhausted one
can you run can you run can you
keep him in the middle
wipe away the tears
pick up the suitcases and
continue wiring safe to sound
with the green flame

17   Psyche before her sin
is a dilettante
To read to listen to study
to gaze was all part of being
loved without loving
a pleasure previous to any trial
or pain of seeking the beloved
The light must be tried
Psyche must doubt and seek to know
reading must become life and writing
and all go wrong
There is no way but Psyche's search
the creative work of a union
in knowledge and experience
At the end there is a new Eros
a new Master over Love
Eros, like Osiris
or Lucifer scattered in sparks
throughout the darkness of what is matter
is a Lord over us in spirit
who is dispersed everywhere
to our senses
We are drawn to Him but must
also gather Him to be
We cannot
in the early stages locate Him
but He finds us out
Seized by His orders we fall in love
in order that He be
and in His duration the powers
of Eros are boundless
We are struck by His presence
and in becoming lovers we become
something other than ourselves
subjects of a daemonic force
previous to our humanity

18   horse on the hillside
horse climbing the hunter's belt
horse of dust and hot stars
embedded in dust
horse on a field of heaven
almost dawn almost
not leaving the ground
almost not there at the door
leaving the ground