Seth A. Howard


GATE

& so, we live mellifluous days.
A vacant
Space, a mask.
Her
Eyes
Wet.
Cold rains & the southern soul.
The night air is crisp, I call
In the wind by the graves,

But tonight, there is no reply.
This day of visions this life of
Ghosts. In the distant horizons
Or dark shores of heaven.
This cloud is a pale visage
Her soul; awake.
Six deer stand at the end of
Time. A lucency comes, but she is gone.



RASPBERRIES

Spring, the half-obscured face of the soldier.
I lift a stone with hidden
Strength. O song of the
Birds. I hear cries of ghouls
Who
Haunt the village. Alive

This mix of Eastern dialects.
The idol
Sings in deciduous halls
The resin of her voice—
Nowhere. A bell resou-
nds. The ideal
Glistens. The mind is free
A
Mel-
ody
In the endless afternoon.



PARK

Where in the city of the grey nimbus?
Why come to me with a rose
Of mauve? Tonight I want to
Take you home, but the rain
Falls incessant. You whisper,
“Make a wish.”
Light filters through the noon-tide
Room. I live here, didn’t you
Know? By the laurels vacant
Sway, by the smooth moonlight of our immortal past.
Why come to me
When the earth is still? As
Rain-sound beats down on
Our party; a party of no celebration.

You enter in the shadows of
Light & noise, don’t talk non-
sense you said, but I didn’t
Hear you. I am fascinated by silence
The midnight moon. If I live
Is there any indication that I
Love?
But the green gates open in
The wine-stained spring.
She has the hips of an angel
& we walk together through
The city of hope, pass by
The tower’s pale glow in the rain where
My affection offers its hand.

Slow sway of a stranger, this
Vacuum of sound.
A dull drone in the distance
Calls the red-throb of some
High apparatus that groans.
Realm
That
Exists
In a
Puddle, or
The
Reflection of our days spent in ecstasies.




Seth A. Howard is the author of Out of the East, & Waters from a Well, two experimental chapbooks. His work has appeared in Otoliths, BlazeVOX [books], unarmed journal, Big Hammer, Oddball Magazine, Chronogram, Saudade, & Elephant. He graduated from the University of Connecticut, & attended Sophia University in Tokyo for three years. In his spare time, he enjoys the practice of Zazen, watches J-drama, & studies French in New London where he resides.
 
 
previous page     contents     next page