What will become of the sky?
Where will it go with its ice-blue
distances, steamship clouds?
Wherever the river of fire takes it.
Nothing outlives the fire.
How will the rocks show off
their intestines? How will the tulips
give their cheeks to the bees?
The river of fire has pennies on its eyes.
It counts its pennies.
Who’ll hang spider lanterns under
the moon, sip the delved draught,
coddle the evening star?
The river of fire coils round
the dead hearts of the dead, it
lifts them out of the clay.
Will there be a way to swim to the center
of the sunk lake? I saw the water rat do it
and wished him well.
The river of fire scrapes through cave-folds, it
lights candles, blows candles cold.
Terence Culleton
A Bucks County (PA) Poet Laureate emeritus, Terence Culleton has published poems in a variety of reviews and journals in both the U.S. and the U.K., including Amherst Review, Alabama Literary Review, Birmingham Review, Blue Unicorn, Cumberland Review, Edge City Review, Modern Poetry Quarterly, and Eunoia. His work has been nominated several times for the Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net, and several of his poems have been featured on NPR. "Mr. Culleton’s fourth volume of poetry, Message From a Floating Dock, is now out through White Violet Press, the formalist imprint of Kelsay Books. It's available for purchase on amazon.com, through kelsaybooks.com, or on Mr. Culleton's website, terenceculletonpoetry.com.
Header image by Tetiana GRY
