Bare A Heart
Take ice clouds, take an owl shading the rose moon, clouds crystalline at the edges, their bleak diamond centers etching wingtip and claw. Hold a river cup, lip washed by melting frost, dipped to overflowing from the ripple of Lyra’s reflection. Take a family ring, garnet red, etched bronze, worn as fetish, borne through conquest voyage, arranged marriage. Hold the passing ocean storm in sight, stripped branches as divining rods, as cudgel or cane, a wand to conjure an island cave’s comfort. There are those who connive a resting space in untracked lanes, intemperate riddles. Forego your sighting. Leave them to their peace.
About the Author: R.T. Castleberry, a Pushcart Prize nominee, has work in Steam Ticket, Vita Brevis, San Pedro River Review, Trajectory, Silk Road, StepAway, and Sylvia. Internationally, he’s had poetry published in Canada, Wales, Ireland, Scotland, France, New Zealand, Portugal, the Philippines and Antarctica. His poetry has appeared in the anthologies: Travois-An Anthology of Texas Poetry, TimeSlice, Anthem: A Tribute to Leonard Cohen, and Level Land: Poetry For and About the I35 Corridor. He lives and writes in Houston, Texas.
Image Credit: Arthur Dove “Storm Clouds” (1935) Public Domain
As It Ought To Be 