Lucille Lang Day
(USA)
EDGE
To be alone,
the world
drawn on an eggshell.
The rising moon
casts a blue sheen
on snow.
In the distance
lights blink on in houses
where children’s voices
rise and fall
to the pulse of seasons
lost in snow.
The wind
twists my hair;
winter trees are tangled,
rimming this field
where time is a fine crack
opening now
under the snow.
RESPLENDENT QUETZALS
Monteverde Cloud Forest, Costa Rica
Male and female, they sit like gods, high
in an aguacatillo tree, surveying creation:
small black fruits
they will eat from red cups
fig trees slowly strangling
the trumpet trees that host them
green vipers with yellow stripes, nearly invisible
where they knot themselves around branches
lancebill hummingbirds
dipping in light
violet sabrewings visiting
red blooms of the shrimp plant
cardio orchids that pulse
like the hearts of small birds
tarantulas dozing in nests
in holes in the forest floor
woodcreepers pecking
for insects on trunks
mottled owls asleep
in the canopy
black-faced solitaires emitting
their squeaky-gate call
humans and the mosquitoes
that feast on them.
The quetzals see it all and know
it is good.
The male puffs his bright red chest,
adjusts his flowing blue-green cloak.
Mist settles, making his feathers
and all the leaves
of the cloud forest shine.
His lady watches, appropriately dazzled,
but these gods cannot rest.
Every year there will be a nest
and young to hatch: so much
remains to be created.
LET ME COUNT THE WAYS
I love you the way raindrops love the earth,
chlorophyll loves to capture light,
a heart loves to beat
and great horned owls love the night;
the way oxygen loves a red blood cell,
nitrogen loves to fill a room,
DNA loves to replicate
and pink camellias love to bloom;
the way fire loves to leap and weave,
the future loves to become the present,
a frog loves to croak at dusk
and iron loves a magnet;
the way poppies love to face the sun,
thunder loves to follow lightning,
a starfish loves a tide pool
and a geyser loves erupting;
the way an enzyme loves its substrate,
stars love to burn and glow,
the earth loves to split along a fault line
and the limbs of a child love to grow;
the way ferns love a forest floor
and mosses and lichens love stones.
I love you with all my cells and proteins,
nucleic acids, muscles, nerves and bones.
____________________________________________
Writer Lucille Lang Day was born in Oakland, California, and grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Her most recent book is The Curvature of Blue, a poetry collection published by Červená Barva Press in 2009. Her previous books include seven poetry collections and chapbooks, a children’s book, and a co-authored textbook, How to Encourage Girls in Math and Science. She has also published fiction, creative nonfiction, essays, book reviews, song lyrics, science journalism, feature articles, and research papers. Her work has appeared widely in newspapers, magazines, and anthologies.