Cleft Earth, Chasm, Eye

Alan Sondheim

Between everything
          the open chasm, furrow of one hill, cleft of pine
and bark, furrow of bark, theother,knived or vertical,
          stutter of rack, shudder of pebble in flight
headlong or night-dark, illumined by fungus, by mold of cloud
          sodden, invisible, lids itself, as eye guards, O chaos
hovered with edge raged, cliff-moss shattered, brine-moss in suspense
          What blinded, soars, shut frozen, feet beyond grasp
of loam, black earth, green, black, unuttered fall?
          Devoured of heart, intestine
devoured of lung or breath of flesh, of blood turned hard
          or flesh, frozen upon woodÕs descent, splintered
sinew, tendon, narrow-bone flight across
          ridge, ledge, across ice-edge, frost bridged
and fallen, frost-lip, snow-lip, tunneled frost
          Between everything cloud swarms, sinks unbidden,
unseen, cauldrons of overturning, tubes of flesh and bronze,
          worlding slow pincers, crackle of logs spilled, split
by fire, frozen,