Calligraphy

 

 

Calligraphy

 

They parade in black-suited lockstep

across and down the blank field.

 

I loved the artful letters first

before the words they built.

 

Each one slowly emerging from

a single-pointed eyelash brush.

 

The elements that make the ink

remain on my lips and tongue.

 

The readers do not ever see

the messages in shade and

pressure on uneven surfaces

that catch the wandering eye.

All things seen and unseen.

 

The lines that flood the page

soaking to the other side

speak in messages to someone

following these partial traces

with a moving finger tip.

 

Incantations, riddles, and drowning

cries in obliterating wave on wave

 

 

Royal Rhodes

 

Royal Rhodes is a retired teacher of global religions, religion & literature, and death & dying. His poems have appeared in print and online journals, including: BEARINGS, Snakeskin, The Lyric, Cholla Needles, Harbinger Asylum, and in a series of art/poetry collaborations with The Catbird [on the Yadkin] Press in North Carolina. His current project is an exhibition on The Art of Trees.