Martin Booth
After Harvesting
hung this night
on obsidian darkness
the slanting squints of flame
migrate over the stubble
and shadows
that could be men
flick over the backdrop of fire
flints striking off their fingers
such is noise
close to the earth:
the rustle of burning
that is orange
that is a million tiny suns
that is alive
that is a god
and the shrapnel snap of sheaves
and the rise of stars
every year
in a mid-September haze of diluted sky
before the moon of my birth dies
in the sultirnesses
and kisses die
in the woods
and dark places
every year
I come to this purging
as to a sacrifice
watch the vermin-flame
burn another year off my back
accompanied by
the burning splinters of seed
and the cry of the new-born
Page(s) 18
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