by Lauren Suchenski
Maps
A traveler over the continents
of earth and sky found himself
in a place marked on the map
by a mythic bird.
It wasn’t supposed to exist
but here it was shining
like a basilisk’s tooth,
rising from the seafloor
and piercing the aorta of clouds.
When the red rain fell,
he found the stone covered in bright manna,
and all the animals he encountered
in the dreams of childhood
came lumbering from the shadows,
lapping the astonishment from his hands.
Over the fading architecture
of the ancient city
a beautiful moon cast
a translucent light.
Everything turned to glass.
One could see the inner life
of cicadas, and the dark heartwood
of summer trees. One could hear
the vows of the universe, luminous and
salvific, hidden in the caliginous purr
of evening wind.
Seth Jani lives in Seattle, WA and is the founder of Seven CirclePress (www.sevencirclepress.com). His work has appeared in The American Poetry Journal, Chiron Review, The Comstock Review, Ghost City Review, Rust+Moth and Pretty Owl Poetry, among others. His full-length collection, Night Fable, was published by FutureCycle Press in 2018. Visit him at www.sethjani.com.
Lauren Suchenski has a difficult relationship with punctuation and currently lives in Yardley, PA. She has been nominated twice for the Pushcart Prize, three times for The Best of the Net and her chapbook Full of Ears and Eyes Am Iis available from Finishing Line Press. You can find more of her writing on Instagram @lauren_suchenski or on Twitter @laurensuchenski.