Raymond Soulard, Jr. New Songs (for Kassandra) - The ...

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Raymond Soulard, Jr.
Things Change (Six Thresholds)
[a new fixtion]
Morning. Resurrection. The least thought matters. Morning. Desire. Slim lashes of
flame.
Possibilities.
A stream of mirrors where colors bounce playful, savage, outlaws in shift &
movement, two break into five, five into a hundred, two, a few, shifting, moving, things
change, things, things change, change, change—
& night trips into today, unfractured by light, unsanctioned in this wild free run,
night frail & fabulous, the least thought matters, the pen scratches, buzzing the paper,
marauding, etching it forever, scarring its blankness, with truth, with choice, with magick,
with gleam, one hand holds another, touch bloods now with furious life—
a note diminishing always, a rock, a flame, no time—
She looks at me & smiles. Hands me a peach-colored crayon
“Try” she says
“Me?”
“Yes”
“If you wear the pink gown & red bonnet”
“And you wear the blue suit & yellow hat?”
I nod.
I take her hand, palm-side up, & trace a diminishing circle from palm’s edge to its
center. Tickled, she giggles.
The least thought matters, a ton & a feather, the gown & the suit dancing, the
morning & night, the vase of poppies, spring in the loins, summer in the belly, winter in
one’s dreams, autumn in one’s heart—
Next threshold, what it might be, heavy glass tank, water filled but depths
unrevealing, black glass, black water, a shrug each for what when why.
What may come, I kiss her lips. She is stay, she is grounding, direction & fresh air, I
kiss her lips for these things & their many kin.
I hand her back her crayon & she nods; keeps the thick swirl on her palm tho; later
carefully incorporates its wax substance into a new picture.
What may come, we sit here tonight, close, clear, bells, high, sit together while most
people & events pass us unminding, each gurgling with the cream of self-obsession throathigh—we
sit here & what passes perhaps touches too, down in the roots, down in the
dreams.
The Cenacle | 59 | October 2006