Phantoms from Sand

John Davis

as roughage as rascals

as foxes and ants or buzzards

over ashes as opossums

and leaves in the wind we spin

on the coeval dirt

 

omens we are, equations of light

scars of our fathers

galling horizons we figments

vertiginous green then brown

we ambulate and blaze

 

as phantoms from sand

as dancers we color the day

fight fires inside us we lovers

of water of lavender

grasses anything sweet

 

bashful badgers or salmon

that feast on herring

or babies that nuzzle in

that guzzle and gulp

that burp like babbling brooks

 

as harried as bunnies

we skitter we scatter

flatter ourselves numb as plums

in the dark then stinging as nettles

holy and handsome we wait for the dawn