Grace Marie Grafton
Absence as it nears also offers astonishment
Dan Beachy-Quick
Elaborate meanings fall short. No matter how you scan,
you fail to find the way your thoughts once brocaded
the least presence – whush of wind, single note of
a plain wren. No, now – where there was the sunny
rush of syllables – is only cloudless air. You sit
on the fallen tree trunk to mine your memories.
Instead comes a flash of unmitigated silver.
It could be some malfunction of your eyes, or
it could be the image of potential. Stay where
you are. Let the silver be whatever it might.
Let it remain flavorless, scent-free, touch-
averse. Don't grab, don't imagine, don't
run your fingers through its immateriality.
Do not take it in your arms.
Bio
Grace Marie Grafton is the author of six books of poems, most recently 'Jester' from Hip Pocket Press. Recent poems appear in Peacock Journal, Homestead Review, Sisyphus Literary Magazine and Sin Fronteras, among others. She has taught thousands of children to write poetry through her work with CA Poets in the Schools.