Michael Spring
turning pages
because she tells me the sound
of turning pages arouses her
I can't recall what page I originally wanted
to show her
all that matters now is this sound – this susurrus –
this soft plosive sigh as a page lifts
and falls –
a sheet of paper peels back for another –
my fingers slide across the paper
as if it were her skin
into the mountain
the way the velvet ant pulls
my attention to follow her
scarlet light under a flap of moss
the way an amethyst
cracked from a thunder egg
takes my mind
into visceral crystalline landscapes
I enter the mountain
into the past
no, it is the present or future
into the ancient light of darkness
where sound and scent build landscapes
and mountain pathways
where I can finally see myself
as animal as particles as numerous
elements as the world
a gate fastened between two trees
I scan the pines and ferns for cameras
for booby traps and no trespassing signs
there's no evidence of a fence
no evidence of anything else human
the gate's weave of branches are made
of snake-like pieces of madrone fastened with sinew
did someone whisper?
the shape of a tree becomes a person
a boulder the size of a bear seems to be breathing
if I were to walk through this gate
whose place might I be entering?
angel? demon? a madman wielding a chainsaw?
because I’m thinking this
I want to prove to myself there’s nothing to fear
I create my own chasms:
a pit of snakes made from my flesh –
a burning river made of my blood
no, I won't be deterred
I unlatch the gate
I open my hands to become birds
fear makes me doubt
your hands will not be birds, but you
have already shown them to me
I shouldn't doubt
what I see –
an entire forest of birds!
Michael Spring, of Southwest Oregon, is the author of four poetry books and one children's book. In 2016 he won a Luso-American Fellowship from DISQUIET International. His poetry books have won several awards, including The Turtle Island Poetry Award, and an honorable mention for the Eric Hoffer Book Award. His poems have appeared in numerous publications, including: Atlanta Review, Crannog, Flyway, Gávea-Brown, Midwest Quarterly, Otoliths, Poetry New Zealand, and Spillway. He is a poetry editor for The Pedestal Magazine and Flowstone Press.
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