Duane Locke

Location: Tampa, FL
Email: duanelocke@netzero.net
Published in: APR, Nation, Literary Review, Black Moon, Bitter Oleander, etc.
Books: Watching Wisteria, The submerged fern in the waistline of solitude


ASHES

By the gulf, I found her, Chiarra, as ashes.
Vactionists driving white vans among the shoreline
Had burned her flesh.

The stingrays whose curved backs turn gray waters into gold
Told me the secret of the phoenix,
Gave me the words, the ritual.

Chiarra, I could resurrect you and your white-gold hair,
But the charred bones of your arm's skeleton
Must extend towards me until I am touched by bones.

But, Chiarra, your finger bones point towards
The city lights that flake the horizon.

- Poetry - Letter on the Eve of My Wedding Compendium White Flight Never Open a Suitcase in the Rain Matriphagy Vigil Ashes Learning How Musings from an Airport Window Vespers Mamma Nací Muy Tarde For Someone With Eyes Less Like Her Own The Penitent - Prose - Syndicated Syrian Rapsodiazul All the Underground Madmen Memories of Salvador - Plays - Office Hours