#Read a #poem #Friday
[rain frog thorn bug tent bat]BY FRANCINE STERLE
rain frog thorn bug tent batalong a broken mosaic a spongy ever-dwindling pathsoaring trees woody buttresses their massive twisted finslofty crowns shoulder to shoulder climbing lime-greenvines restless palms one strangling plant clinging tochoking another a discontinuous canopy of branches and leavesimpenetrable alive and teeming tangled underbrushthe deeply shaded soil lumpy roots writhingacross the forest floor low-growing ferns seedlingsstruggling for light jewel-colored hummingbirdsinsects sizzling and clicking and the dripping watertrickling into the tiniest crevices steamyclaustrophobic air a dazzling bellbird lostin a shaft of sunlight a golden eyelash vipersinuous as a vein on a broad-leafed frond flat wormsland leeches walnut-sized spiders goliath beetlescamouflaged butterflies on dead leaves parasites beesleaf-cutting ants atop glorious white lilies everywheregripping climbing twisting floating through the treesstilt-like aerial roots the mouth-amazed pitcher plantburied larvae fruit-eating fish the perpetual battle to adaptthe ruthless drive to survive under a punishing sunwhat grows bursts forth at astonishing speed then decomposesto be reabsorbed so much unknown unfamiliarunnamed but before long the trees seem the samethe rocks every bird track who would dare think of such a placewho would dare construct one of his own imaginingand be utterly abandoned in the middle of it allif to be lost is to be fully present if confusion becomesthe only boundary and then the decision [to divide spaceuntil a direction is created] only a madman would beginthought is its own cage the mind already anticipatingthe first step deciding every turn will be coupledby disaster and perhaps some bestial creaturecrouched at the center crying waitingfor our hero our everyman our Elijah wandering the earth in rags
rain frog thorn bug tent batalong a broken mosaic a spongy ever-dwindling pathsoaring trees woody buttresses their massive twisted finslofty crowns shoulder to shoulder climbing lime-greenvines restless palms one strangling plant clinging tochoking another a discontinuous canopy of branches and leavesimpenetrable alive and teeming tangled underbrushthe deeply shaded soil lumpy roots writhingacross the forest floor low-growing ferns seedlingsstruggling for light jewel-colored hummingbirdsinsects sizzling and clicking and the dripping watertrickling into the tiniest crevices steamyclaustrophobic air a dazzling bellbird lostin a shaft of sunlight a golden eyelash vipersinuous as a vein on a broad-leafed frond flat wormsland leeches walnut-sized spiders goliath beetlescamouflaged butterflies on dead leaves parasites beesleaf-cutting ants atop glorious white lilies everywheregripping climbing twisting floating through the treesstilt-like aerial roots the mouth-amazed pitcher plantburied larvae fruit-eating fish the perpetual battle to adaptthe ruthless drive to survive under a punishing sunwhat grows bursts forth at astonishing speed then decomposesto be reabsorbed so much unknown unfamiliarunnamed but before long the trees seem the samethe rocks every bird track who would dare think of such a placewho would dare construct one of his own imaginingand be utterly abandoned in the middle of it allif to be lost is to be fully present if confusion becomesthe only boundary and then the decision [to divide spaceuntil a direction is created] only a madman would beginthought is its own cage the mind already anticipatingthe first step deciding every turn will be coupledby disaster and perhaps some bestial creaturecrouched at the center crying waitingfor our hero our everyman our Elijah wandering the earth in rags
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