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Xanthian
Scent of sweet roots · lake winds · philtres · base notes skin breathes out on evenings · deep in afterjune drum-calfskins · elderflower rains · rains white wings · soft as the floss of the crack willow catkin consciousness of nine · to glitter on the water's rind · where cold wakes jostle the pads · rude stems picked of their tight little suns · by white-blazed tern · and heron ·
of things bronze-winged and silver-faced the inconspicuous imagine · the suspected marvelous day · occurring in ivy and over-ripe wasteground · your light yellow · head rose and spun · pouring form on indistinction · closer to a name ·
mornings casting shapes · from forms I bring to light I wonder · across worn grass this shadow backs away · pace approaching vanishing point · through the ghost of our turning · we see at last the luminous detail of our roots · the silent father looks at himself through the mother and faces the son · while white butterflies browse red nettle · thin at rest · wings at once · open over small mauve leaves · disappear in sunlight part · of the glint-cheer grass-tips offer · up to late april · bees drone low hazel · honey practised · nut begun to wax ·
absence settled on a thunderous perch · in an april field · under mongrel skies · a rainbow screams on its knees at the light · the rain in flight · wavedrums ·
when light is the sky's burden · borne by an upturned face in the field · the lichen's antlers fruit dream red · and I remember · there was once one · there was once no one · a gentle desecration · of identities fits so well · voids the spurious I · live in mirror planes · the depthless equant light · to wash in the face of young waters and come out the sun ·
spring sun down the shadow's burst grain · hands there met · handedness of flowers · parted fingers turning · under the fluent light · learning the lesson of newer leaves · frail but gaining · their colour strong · where a parity crossed from the shared node or a limb-edge cast its other · all patched with quiet of a different cut · to lay over all seamless space · deep-veined · sun-greened · of dog's mercury leaves occupied the same · as the song-light touch slender methyls on the breeze after daw wings pass · quick-lit low charcoal spandrels soft primaries flowing to even stems · preferring to rest in silvery peace · of the rebis woodcut
tyrant
separation tends to the sorrowful male
dark split of ritual like hack gelding cut
stands in a field apart
the stables of maim
hot sun wet on the flanks of the gelding
drips a textured shine down the bay
rump where a signalling tremor escapes
and the soft eyes bend to meet your light hand
and the silent mare is yours and
mine and all's broad fold
we are each other's sentient property
dawn eyeshine soaked north of the ditch
vision of rich buttercup tapeta
wet sun spilt down turned hills gallop
as far as the trees fell shadows
[Adam Flint was born in North London and lives in Potsdam, Germany. Previous poems have appeared in Blackbox Manifold, Shearsman magazine, Reliquiae journal and Poetry Salzburg Review, among others. An album, "Seen Through Cirrus", in collaboration with The Cube of Unknowing, is available on the Irish label Fort Evil Fruit.]
Copyright © 2022 by Adam Flint, all rights reserved. This text may be used and shared in accordance with the fair-use provisions of copyright law. Archiving, redistribution, or republication of this text on other terms, in any medium, requires the notification of the journal and consent of the author.
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