night run

Jennifer MacBain-Stephens

The curtain lifts   

upon winter solstice  

this tree dancer is late   reaching for its favorite food in the sky
an        elm       ripped  from the earth
lays the last spider    into dirt
take the dense and most gorgeous    midnight      whispers    

restore      forest  floor  under that first dark soil layer the carbon
is breaking down 

what would it be like to be left alone?

arms  mimic poesies, waving,     a south wind breathes     through a

thicket of moans     red throated     warbler sounds like a   fire  crackling  and 

cold  feet        spreads   upward    

the finish line is a Seurat painting after all  we think we are one dot

but we are trillions

  if you half close your eyes against the freezing water droplets      the moonlightblurstobold lightbulbs   

a  run for ideas 
flee despair                             but breathe
there is romance in the woods      

The memory: 1/5th of a glance from you   increases    the height of Oaks       of Maples      forts hold steady from your forehead      Orion’s neck : a posture 

I am too far away from the others    to hear   confessions      Is this night a       confusion into    a future prayer, a  simple dream  of a house
yesterday        and          

                                    tomorrow

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Jennifer MacBain-Stephens went to NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and now lives in Iowa where she likes to rock climb, hike, and mountain bike. She is the author of four poetry collections and fifteen chapbooks and enjoys exploring how to blend creativity with nurturing the earth. She also hosts a free, monthly reading series sponsored by Iowa City Poetry called Today You Are Perfect. Find her at http://jennifermacbainstephens.com/.

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