SPARK

JoAnn Gilles

Inspiration Piece

Cave

The red sandstone roof         is imprinted     with millennia             of flickers

…………………………..moiré of soot and sunset

…………..Posthistoric cave         painters with         magnifying optical implants

…………………have celebrated     the flea’s energy and grace

the swaying reed-beds of hair

…..Outside     the low cave mouth         slotted wide         as an ancient airlock

………………………..one arch         of corroded rebar     or industrial cable

………………………………like a burnt

…………………………………..rainbow bridge    ………Then

……………………………………………..above the range beyond

…………………………………………the butte         looming prow

……………the tall pale plume         ………..against night’s refracted blue

……………………………….of a fallen orbital

….On the rubbled watersmooth floor……..head bowed             facing inward

……………………………………………….………in a white robe

………………………………………………….……and neural topknot

………………………………………………..….……kneels the acolyte

…………..imagining         a boat that never ceases

…………………………………..to be a tree

………………..a tree whose boughs       are the galley-oars of summer

………………………………………………………………………a boat that sails on light