She is a River
by Dan Raphael
right into her mouth i go
after timeless unpeelings of doorways
like centuries of unprocessed spider-web
defying gravity and molecular bonds
we burn what confuses the clocks, migrating birds,
stars spinning in circles unsure which way is out
she's all mouth and all around me,
all strings i sitar, harp and contrabass
as if im a couple thousand pieces so long pretending unity
but always drawing borders, twisting arguments,
sending names from greek to tibetan to algebraic
the mouth of the momentum of the vision
folding the world into a lung a river a bio magnetic vortex
rinsing the sun in the moons explosive blood
star herbs dusting the sizzle of two mouths, many hands,
too great a breadth of skin to traverse in one life
Usually i’m not too keen on poems with stars but i have to say i like the delivery here, as well as the last poem “Rubbing 2 stars…”. I dub Mr. Raphael the ‘Ace Frehley of Haggard and Halloo’. lol.
I read this piece a couple times and then a couple more over the past few weeks on nightshift and ultimately it left me with the impression of a kiss. But more than that, i think it’s about being in focus, in the aura of, with that inner tuning fork so to speak of this ‘she’ who ‘is a river’. River can connote or symbolize as vessel many things including the flow of beautiful energy which i believe is the case here. Many great lines in this poem including: “we burn what confuses the clocks, migrating birds, stars spinning in circles unsure which way is out.” eloquent.
well done.