Inquisition
1.
I breathe smoke
from the fire
warming our feet
Something is not right
but not wrong
yet
like the bones’ dance
on wires
in a bad dream
Fear’s sharp blade twists
burning with the slow
heat of coals
2.
I cannot read ashes
the message
of cracked stones in desert light
nor the poetry
of the cow’s skull
white on dark sand
What right has a man
And the snake’s
quivering tongue tasting
what the air brings to him
Originally posted in December 2014. One of my earliest published pieces, this first appeared in Taurus, in 1984. Curiously, this is not the piece that I remembered having been published in Taurus. I wonder if that poem still exists somewhere? Such is memory…
O at the Edges 
Neither here nor there…you’ve captured that restlessness. It seems a constant companion sometimes…(K)
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Even when “here” is now and “there” is then (1984), wondering if our words would be the same, with all we’ve seen.
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That’s an interesting thought…I’ll have to run that through my mind a bit…
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Mine would be different. The same, but different.
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It sure seems that way to me.
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“Not right, but not wrong yet…..” Love this: Such power in “yet.”
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It’s amazing that a three-letter word can convey such nuance!
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Yet, you haven’t forgotten how to write wonderful poetry…. such is memory…
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Getting published was such a rare thing back then that you’d think I would remember. Ha!
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I use my blog to aid my memory – just as you have done 🙂
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I recall writing the poem, or at least some of the phrases, but if I hadn’t found that copy of Taurus it would never have seen the light of day. 😬
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