HEART THREAD Parts Seventy-Seven and Seventy-Eight

77.

Peaceable vortex a thun is a
time set apart

to be itself alone and nothing doing
in it but itself

a session on the other side of the
self to call it

door shut mind open listen to
listening

kept wanting more of it the
cheekbones

the tail feathers of equal length the
pinions

rimmed with blue though they look
black

magpies on the road in Colorado home
on the ground

dig deep to find the surfaces of
things

I am left with a zodiac on my hands

can I interest you in being me a
while

while I sail your white ship into the
typhoon?

78.

Woodpeckers four fledglings from a
locust tree

one more priest one more shepherd

sheepless a crowd of unbelievers

a perfect place an island think of
Latin

it never hurts to ask how red your
poll

sweet predators Mavors’ insectivore

do you hear his chimes beneath the
sea

no that is the wind that is Schubert
all alone

no one paid attention to the clumsy
instrument

the beak a young man has to know the
world

I slept my way out of more towns than
this

town or dream what difference she
lifts her skirt.

ROBERT
KELLY