Friday, October 31, 2008

When Will The White Birds Rise

when will the white birds rise
from an alien music
when will the spell


burn off and their

widening cadence free
the radiance hardly missed-

the mute years ,

uncherished solace?
when will the white words rise
like snow lifted upwards
into a dome-like Heavenly requital
by winds so deeply
filled with stars?

bright as a bridal evanescence

a fragile opalescence, over-spun
suddenly to anyone appearing


through the sheer skies that have no need


no longer thrash with wings

your still-born air
everything there is to bear

already has been borne

and light is near:
let lamentation die

and swerve, swerve away

from the ancient coasts of sorrow
(and tears inlaid with tears)

when the white birds rise


mary angela douglas 28 october 2008


*refering to the Celtic myth "The Children of Lir"

Praising The Book People

["the faint whisper of a turned page"
-Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451]

would you sell your heart's desire

would you chop it up for
firewood in the bitter cold

or throw it over the bridge,

sparking futile distances,
to spare yourself?

how would you choose,

sensing the end was near,
from all these things so rare:

what to pawn

what to carry on your back,
kind refugees of this beleagured Word?

there is a library of the mind

where books like jewels shine
where we could surpass

the farthest runners to the edge of Light

leaning over the rim of its deep well
whenever a second universe appears.

not to betray this universe,

to shield it from inquisitional fire
or the permafrost of
brutal disregard

we choose this role, even to be lost,

tearing out the blank pages of ourselves
inscribing them with ink that


can't be traced


in love with cherry-scaped language

we'll memorize it all
warned in dreams to depart


another way,

bartering life for art
reading reading reading to

fuse the broken continents within

beauty and truth, once again,
our touchstone

through harsh midnights of sheer



inarticulation



we stand guard

refusing to stone the messengers
sheltering angels, unaware
weaving bright meaning
into our banished souls

as on the first day


mary angela douglas 13 october 2008

Throwing My Soul From

["just because I'm losing
doesn't mean I'm lost."
-Coldplay]


throwing my soul from

this semi-burning building
forgetting the luggage of


clouds as they pass by



I won't demand anything



talking underwater to those

still on dry land,
my voice is bent like


light and there are

arrows through every heart
like Valentine's day in grade-school


the crayon clouds stay,

unable to depart, while
everyone else flows away


but I'm hanging my water-logged valentines out to dry



and making each eviction

count for something
at least, on paper
even though I know


I will land too softly for anyone to cry



without breaking apart

without feigning anything


without wounding:

the shining lawns remaining_


mary angela douglas 26 october 2008