It is my pleasure to discover
the unknown within the known:
the speckled fleck of an iris,
the maculations of melanin,
the spectrum refracting
mutable light and—
shadow.
We clustered closely round
the embers flaring beneath
the grey ashen scales,
fire breathing beneath
the pyroclastic surface:
a furnace of the creative mind—
These Promethean moments
between fire and starlight,
between blazing heat
and elusive smoke,
with sleepy ash,
sleepy like smoke blankets
made out of ashy sky—
These are the nooks,
warm in the wintertime,
waning in the summertime
with the long long sun,
which blazes on
in the unknown sky,
hanging like an orange
over the known earth.
Mottled firespots fill
the gaps in my memory
as I sit a cat and purr
with Mnemosyne’s song
softly flaring,
xanthus orange
beneath the blue.