*Andalusia: the name of Flannery O'Connor's home in Milledgeville, Georgia
Stephen Mead
Each Year
The sky is an incredible diamond for the first rain of spring----- Sky, amethyst facets in warm shades of grey & turquoise… All day my windows blue with this, the curtains, the beads, shell lustres of dawn & the lawns turn purple with star clusters, little flowers, those anemone hellos ’… Here I forget the atrocious & am parasol only of a geisha in marketplace gardens empty of all other beings----- Imagine it, the street a ribbon of wet black through jungle parrot blossoms & all-the- way green lights… No, there is no stopping this exciting stillness, seed-hinting. Even these wintry dry bushes rustle with sparrows, whispers, intimations, the promise of time waiting tender & bright as the spikes Of my lover’s silver hair ----- He was such a surprise, as are these days of jeweled nights bringing summer steep in their steed’s promise… Listen. Hear the faith of horses galloping in the heart of this descent. So may your pulse bloom:
Instinct, wonder, wildness, knowing.
60
Made with FlippingBook Digital Publishing Software