1.
the miner’s eye shines
its breath of light
against those shades
he drew
in the morning
notwithstanding
the child’s birth
& one tool
pulling her toward
earth
w/o him
she/the woman/
toils
behind curtains
2.
light focuses on real things
half
way b/t the sky
& a flower’s bloom. who will know
her vision
if the sky does not touch him?
if the light does not reflect him?
if the tunnel walks behind him?
when he runs
the path splits
into desert
& forest. searching the tunnel
he crosses the makeshift map
of roses displayed
on the kiosk behind
the courtyard.
when he arrives
he sees the kiosk
the map
& the birth reflected
in the miner’s lamp.
when she turns, volumes of red
arch passion’s land and tunnels end
of light
& roses bloom
3.
the threads move.
they move in increasing frequency
thru the tunnel.
the father waits
at the end of the tunnel.
If the father waits
in the beginning
or end
or forever
it does not matter if the father waits
or leaves
the child knows when the tunnel
ends. she is its arch & volume & sound
at the end of the tunnel
you will see a sign in bold
letters. in bold letters you will see
mother’s ending father’s
beginning breaking the pin
inside a telephone ring whose dreaming
number dreams the dreamer’s time of
swishing….swish….ing
4.
the split happens when you don’t know
it happens
like the bloom of a rose
or the reality of skylight. just as
a split knows
to split
open
the tunnel opens to the beginning
of the book the child is now
reading. when the child sees
the rose bloom
the father comes home with a drink
in his hand & offers it to
the child.
the mother stands
behind the curtain
she does not know
the father
from before
the child sees the letters
on the father’s forehead
they tell her where he has been
all her life
before she wore
her mother’s skirt touching
the floor of
the world
5.
if you see him
the father
will you let her know
the child
she wants to talk to him
about her life.
about anything that has happened.
it does not matter
what she will talk about.
even the most trivial things will do.
trivial things are the best,
she says,
give him that message.
she wants to tell him what she wore
to the prom last night.
last night she wore a silk skirt.
she wants to tell him that,
about her silk skirt.
he does not know about silk
or skirts.
or about the girl
how tall she is
the shape of her nose
the color of her eyes
the length of her arms
how big her feet are
what she looks like in a silk skirt
tell him
when the phone rings
that she’s his daughter
that’s all he needs to know
when the phone rings
you can answer
& tell him
she’s all he needs to know
Originally published in Longitudes At Daybreak by Sandra Squire Fluck. Available on Apple Books and Amazon Kindle.
