Carving Masks
http://www.maverickmagazine.com/articles/458/1/Carving-Masks/Page1.html
Todd Fredson
Todd Fredson’s poetry and non-fiction has appeared or is forthcoming in Poetry International, Blackbird, Court Green, 42 Opus, American Poetry Review, Puerto del Sol, Gulf Coast, RUNES, Slush Pile and other journals. He is the Director of Programming at the McReavy House Museum of Hood Canal. He lives in the Skokomish Valley, with his wife, Sarah Vap, and their sons.By Todd Fredson
Published on 05/12/2010
A butterfly
darkens. Lowers itself from the massive white cloud
migrating north toward the Sahara.
The desert is moving south.
darkens. Lowers itself from the massive white cloud
migrating north toward the Sahara.
The desert is moving south.
A butterfly
darkens. Lowers itself from the massive white cloud
migrating north toward the Sahara.
The desert is moving south.
Beneath the still, blue co-
efficient of sky, ash
slivers from the spire of smoke.
The massive white clouds.
They make this heat feel like solitude.
The desert’s shells and their cargo, this in utero numbness—how involuntarily
the world formed around us.
Wood glue mixed with paint, the burlap frays sizzle.
Senoubi ages the masks in the fire.
I should not be so satisfied
bothering this upon you,
as if your own memory
could not conjure so simple a perfection.
Beyond the rows of rubber trees, another massive white cloud.
You can make hunger go away, but it will take everything with it.
darkens. Lowers itself from the massive white cloud
migrating north toward the Sahara.
The desert is moving south.
Beneath the still, blue co-
efficient of sky, ash
slivers from the spire of smoke.
The massive white clouds.
They make this heat feel like solitude.
The desert’s shells and their cargo, this in utero numbness—how involuntarily
the world formed around us.
Wood glue mixed with paint, the burlap frays sizzle.
Senoubi ages the masks in the fire.
I should not be so satisfied
bothering this upon you,
as if your own memory
could not conjure so simple a perfection.
Beyond the rows of rubber trees, another massive white cloud.
You can make hunger go away, but it will take everything with it.