The hawk hardly flaps
a wing as the crow pecks up
from below above

All tender tendrils
leaves open at once blossoms
and the dark wet Earth

The weight of Spring rain
coats the huddled leaves
with a clear, bright sheen.

The cherry trees from
Japan you planted blossom
but you are in jail.

Inside my eyelids
the vortex looses me
in spin far within

Too early the morn
that finds us blinking in this
grey gleam church table

          Now,

Sit still, breathe deep and
long, now you will see how
simple it all is

Body all ways there
where we think we are minds
DE BODY knows

 

James Van Looy has been a fixture in Boston’s poetry venues since the 1970s. He is a member of Cosmic Spelunker Theater and has run poetry workshops for Boston area homeless people at Pine Street Inn and St. Francis House since 1992. His work appears weekly in Oddball Magazine.