The Light Above Cities Sitting in darkness, I see how the light of the city fills the clouds, rosewater light poured into the sky like the single body we are. It is the sum of a million lives, a man drinking beer beneath a light bulb, a dancer spinning in a fluorescent room, a girl reading a book beneath a lamp. Yet there are others--astronomers, thieves, lovers—whose work is only done in darkness. Sometimes I don’t want to show these poems to anyone, sometimes I want to remain hidden, deep in the coals with the one who pulls the stars through a telescope’s glass, the one who listens for the click of the lock, the one who kisses softly a woman’s eyes. (from Dynamite on a China Plate) |