FLAG OF MY DISPOSITION
If it could sing,
its gasp would sound
before the trample
and spring back
on the wind
with operatic joy,
love unchained
from benthic depths
to saturate, dominate,
obliterate the earth,
the sacrificial strength
of nourishment
bestowed upon
a carpet of creation,
green as life itself
Brooklyn, 2020
TO UNDERSTAND THE HEAT
Lay upon the afternoon
with savage intent,
not quite here, there,
but waiting for a gap
through which
to plunge your scepter
Under wings of a pelican
the world appears aloof,
raving to itself
for cessation of the sun
Could it be I found my place
atop the table
when all the seats are full?
I’m not quite ready to go
or stay, let alone return
Fire has a way with words;
let them burn, indefinite—
This may be your
only chance
to understand the heat
Daytona Beach, 2020
NOVEMBER VISIONS
No tengo nada por hacer
I set out before the rise of jaundiced blue dawns, Sonoran reds unfurl
periwinkle innards
I wait with meditative shivers on Ascension steps for the Gate to be
unlocked
Old balloons sleep off their buoyant festivities in a bed of dry leaves
under the BQE
I am indulgent and love life, and therefore beware myself,
my capabilities and leanings seen all too clear in the rapids of rivers
past
What is this conniving urge to acquiescence that’s ladled all this slop
over bygone years till I hardly recognize the contours of my
soul?
Do I want to recognize my soul?
Dreams of music and alternate memory,
days of shed layers, accumulated body odor, restless respite,
grimaces molded by adherence to the respectable flow of patterned
existence,
swaying a-foot with Whitman morn and night under rivers & the
monstrous isle,
trapped in the paradox of animate stagnation
I must love the hair on my toe as much as I love the grass, for both
savor the sun but give it up for seer’s feast with delicate hints
of growth eternal
I smile at all who pass—some are receptive, most are not
Reflections of a cracked ceiling in a toilet bowl eclipse
Brooklyn, 2020
G. R. Bilodeau is a peripatetic poet and pet care specialist from the banks of the Ramapo River. Their work has appeared most recently, or is forthcoming, in SurVision, HASH Journal, and As of Late, among other journals and anthologies.
https://www.instagram.com/grbilodeau
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