artwork: ralph murre
Sagittarius
by Jean Feraca
I take you in
(O happy dagger!)
Gorge on you,
motherhoard
My plunder
There is no
bottom to this well
No quelling
This huge
hunger
I thought you
were the sea swelling
I thought I
was Aphrodite rising from your foam
Who is this
monster rides you flat out, flailing
Knees, thighs
Dug in
Goading your
thunder?
This must be
the underworld we forge
Your colossal
legs floundering
Through
ungulate water, the air
Roaring, we
sink
Into a stew
Thick as
sulphur we are galloping through
Brays,
bellows, a hullabaloo
Erupts
From the
inside -- It's bedlam
I'm queen of,
rampant
Bared
I snort,
shudder
Boil up like a
brew, a screamer
Pluming
over. Arched
Taut
Ready to leap
Out of time
To be
Released, the
flint that flies
One-eyed
Into dawn.
~ first
published in Crossing the Great Divide
(Wisconsin
Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters)
