Derek Beres

OBLIQUE ARCHITECTURE

The cold winds settle, and I push the
Dust against earth with this broom.

With diligence I explore the historic terrain:
Innocent fragments, scattered limbs,
Unedited poems crumbled and abandoned,
An irregular lake empty as the arid reservoir of eyes.

The cold winds settle, the dust absolves.
With this brush illusions scatter as I
Sweep vivid bristles across the ancient landscape.

Among remnants of broken twigs, brittle leaves,
A lilac uproots crumbled dirt, stretches its arms
Toward clouds, clears the stifled atmosphere of
Former desolation as my lungs welcome the fresh
Breeze with spectral echo and enduring romance.

I bend to touch this flower
My fingers victim to her silk,
Ears meditating to songs of her struggle,
My thoughts wander to symmetric worlds
Where tears taste gentle as the wine of her lips,
My hands continue to caress the soft
Architecture of her mythic hips.

Cold winds settled, dust transformed by her
Oblique texture, and even those clouds return to
Oblivion in such gracious company.

I hold the broom and continue to sweep.
When the earth has settled it is I off my feet.

MADRID

Hold me close tonight
For tomorrow when we wake I must leave.

Such departure has not you to blame;
If the choice were mine alone never
Would I estrange myself from your
Willows, these timeless tapestries woven
With fable and magic, or the statue that
Stands guard upon your proud junipers.

But this choice was never mine,
And so I must exile myself from the
Labyrinth wrapped within your veins.

So tonight you must hold me close, and
Tomorrow we’ll share memories
I’ll tell friends your violets have bloomed,
You can plaster these footprints in the dust,
And if at twilight my curtains again turn
Orange I may immortalize you in a poem.

But now the shadows have consumed me as I
Hide secretly among this congress of maples,
Confide with sparrows along your trodden paths,
And wait, snapping coins into the river,
Wait for the water to disguise my tears
While I watch falling leaves maintain the
Rhythm between sky and earth.