In the lead for so long, Jonathan’s post from August celebrates two poems from his wonderful debut pamphlet, Fledge.
Dandelion Sun
A child’s sun finds a dream in young eyes.
In blinks of dandelion eclipses,
refracted light reflects on retinas
holding warmth in ragged leaves
below a flower standing up and out.
Ryegrass and foxtail for company,
a golden head of petals,
swaying and slight,
is there and gone and there again.
The wings of friends unfold to test the air
with thoughts aloft in stretching skies,
days that lift and soar with matchless views.
They seek what hawks perceive as truth
yet still count the faces that look familiar.
And dipping hands in search of clues,
a box of sights,
of scent and sound,
they choose a shade and wear a skin,
fit in and lose themselves as one of many.
But this child blinks dandelion eclipses;
hawkbit tinctures bathing open eyes
with picture sun now placed behind an ear
while looking up and out.
A trust in truth is not weighed as cost
and light in ragged leaves endures.
Though slight,
as scythes descend and sweep the dream,
it will not fail at dusk.
Invitation To Move On
I am small in the sea, pushed around
by waves that care not for any grain of sand
or stuff that floats in a broken head.
Arms held wide and high, that reach and cling
like a child to a parent when things get rough,
when routines fail and muscles waste.
I hesitate, recoil, cower; skin so thin
these cold water blades could spill these guts
for waiting gulls and wash away this name.
I am caught like the Sun, falling
and hoping to rise again, the horizon watched
from a base of arched feet, soft soles and toes
exposed to the hidden sharpness of shadows.
And though these whispered sea breezes
with caresses would show the way,
for that bastard time waits not for me,
until I learn to surrender, immerse this body,
allow these legs to float and lay back this head,
could I ever take in the whole of the sky?