Complexes, Eric Shaffer

SOMETIMES SILENCE CAN BE THE BEST POETRY

like the space between the stanza
don’t bite your fingernails
let the words grow under them
first
speak everything into an inner ear
floppy tongues can make
dull bedfellows

e b bortz

 

SHE LISTENS TO AIR

I listen to what insinuates
Itself / what rides the slip
Stream & where it takes
Me / I float the notes &
Search the sounds for
Meaning / holding my
Breath when frail beauty
Stops my heart / gasping
At flaws like leaves in
Autumn / each individual
As a snowflake’s descent

I know these echoes &
Paint their silhouettes in
Words that can’t contain
Them / yet effort is all I
Can manage / who can
Look beyond a promise
Who can hold applause
In the palm of their hand

I want to be touched by
The ephemeral before it
Passes from perception
Dissolving into puddles
Of mistaken identity

She listens to air
Hearing only the wind

KE