Definition in the face of an unnamed grief

 by Deborah A. Bennett 

to know it is to know your own hand
opening, to exhale to be bodiless
whether mad with joy or sorrow
steeped in vine or briars 
all reason glows in simplicity 
the world is out of your eyes
it is always june & you are walking
in the cool of the day
hearing its name in the wind
in the root light sings, laughter
breaks in its stems, fills the
petal folds with music old as sun
& dew & summer
in the heart makes flesh of heaven
spirit of earth
in the head tangles round & waits
in the mouth blossoms with thorns
& with leaves sweet & ripe
as an apricot 
broken open.

Lines

by Deborah A. Bennett

first autumn frost -

the dark under the porch

still green

but black seeds
keep on growing -
autumn dusk

Jackson Street Idyll

by Deborah A. Bennett

the old women's eyes bloom
like daisies fingers lift
like lashes like the caterpillar 
sliver of light against the tree's 
hollow heavy with fruit
i hide beneath the folding table
fearing i too will be changed
toes buried in lemon grass
in the sound of sirens &
dominoes their voices beside
my head like the cicadas
undressing beside the willow bark
butterflies like ghosts in the
cigarette air behind the bodega
the green stamps the subway 
tokens the weight of wings
between my fingers the 
taste of yellow apples. 

Lines

by Deborah A. Bennett

night of falling leaves -
a thousand names at once
become the wind

Lines

by Deborah A. Bennett

i would have to tell you
in another language -
white cranes at dawn 

Spring Moon

by Deborah A. Bennett

grave stone 
over which a white moth passes -
spring moon

 
the thing that falls away
is myself -
spring moon
 

forgetting the world 
is only a drop of water -
spring moon


picture of the wind 
the grief it belongs to -
spring moon

Lines

by Deborah A. Bennett

hanging the wash at dawn -
not the grief
I expected

Lines

by Deborah A. Bennett

war news -
whenever i pass 
the crow on the ledge 

LInes

by Deborah A. Bennett 

the moon tonight 
over george floyd square -
light of the yellow mums