John Perlman
10/16/88
dawn’s duplicity black
flagrant flock of birds
to wake obsessed with
trees turned tinder air
inconstant rays in branchtops
amber as the warrior’s final
placid honors for longevity
smiles in his sleep an
indefensible gratuity
image of a man dis-
figured over time
the loss of likeness
disavows fidelity a
fervor of departing
of a son’s pretense
at sensible utterance
unriddling birdsong
explicating only flaws
the mock evangelist
of hope as lapses in the
synapse weeks had passed
before his father phoned to
chronicle his second stroke
right half of his face collapsed
mouth unanswering indecipherable
words around ‘time heals’ that for
most personal address attempts
the name he gave become sole
icon of his convalescing so
inviolate the depths to
pathos finding wretched
beauty in the sweep of
wings that crest the
near horizon silence
of his call that all
return certain of
the impotence of
prayer
Page(s) 14-15
magazine list
- Features
- zines
- 10th Muse
- 14
- Acumen
- Agenda
- Ambit
- Angel Exhaust
- ARTEMISpoetry
- Atlas
- Blithe Spirit
- Borderlines
- Brando's hat
- Brittle Star
- Candelabrum
- Cannon's Mouth, The
- Chroma
- Coffee House, The
- Dream Catcher
- Equinox
- Erbacce
- Fabric
- Fire
- Floating Bear, The
- French Literary Review, The
- Frogmore Papers, The
- Global Tapestry
- Grosseteste Review
- Homeless Diamonds
- Interpreter's House, The
- Iota
- Journal, The
- Lamport Court
- London Magazine, The
- Magma
- Matchbox
- Matter
- Modern Poetry in Translation
- Monkey Kettle
- Moodswing
- Neon Highway
- New Welsh Review
- North, The
- Oasis
- Obsessed with pipework
- Orbis
- Oxford Poetry
- Painted, spoken
- Paper, The
- Pen Pusher Magazine
- Poetry Cornwall
- Poetry London
- Poetry London (1951)
- Poetry Nation
- Poetry Review, The
- Poetry Salzburg Review
- Poetry Scotland
- Poetry Wales
- Private Tutor
- Purple Patch
- Quarto
- Rain Dog
- Reach Poetry
- Review, The
- Rialto, The
- Second Aeon
- Seventh Quarry, The
- Shearsman
- Smiths Knoll
- Smoke
- South
- Staple
- Strange Faeces
- Tabla Book of New Verse, The
- Thumbscrew
- Tolling Elves
- Ugly Tree, The
- Weyfarers
- Wolf, The
- Yellow Crane, The