They land in flocks, the wild geese
When water calms
And the blue-gray drift has settled its margin
Over the earth's mirror.
In contrast, a man only stands
Alone, in his own shadow.
Sit next to me now, as you once did
Out of your shadow.
Reach from the pale keys of your tapering fingers
The white felts struck secretly behind attending strings:
Flocks without shepherd.
ANON
She wants nothing as she walks
The wood is deep in rubble
It makes no difference now
For howls wind down her hoar
And through her heart stiff nettle
She wants nothing as she walks
Past music, the shape of voices
Spent—how the vast dream wanders—
It makes no difference now
If curtain lifts, stage naked
Or playbills left drowning in gutters
She wants nothing as she walks
Just to enter light's final pavilion—
Her paucity—a silence explicit
It makes no difference. Now
Our muse is moss and bonny!
Old man, why do you sit there weeping?
She wants nothing where she walks.
It makes no difference now.
TO REST
Give me a purple finch upon my pine
A mockingbird loud in my chimney
Determined moth fighting against nightfall
—Beyond my pane—
All salt relieved of grief:
The smell of one wild rose opening tufts
Of the wizened bumble bee
On this morning's brush of light sweeping my patio
Where estranged weeds grow
The permit of my disbelief:
This field of chance to lose my head
In tapestries of innocence
Chasing one devious, slender breeze
That idles clouds, then writes your page.
Laura Manuelidis is a physician and scientist who has delved into the shape of chromosomes and their repeated DNAs as well as the causes of dementia. She has begun to publish some of her poems, written over many years, in various journals including The Nation and The Connecticut Review, was nominated for a Pushcart prize, and has read in European and American universities and other venues. Her book of poems, Out of Order, is available online from popular book sites, and samples of her written poetry and spoken poetry (accompanied with music by Paul Jordan) can be accessed (in addition to other linked published work at: http://info.med.yale.edu/neurosci/faculty/manuelidis_poetry.html.
