Photography © Edward S. Gault

 

Dylan Thomas Collapses
in the White Horse Tavern,
Manhattan, November, 1953

The lush brain
quivers with rain
and yarrow.

The quivering tongue
of the sparrow
fuses to the tongue of the wren.

Death into life,
gigantic loons whose laughter
lights across the snows of tundra.

Kings of winter,
gashed like goose gowns,
grown clouds.

Aromas of perspiration
in a room bilged high
with sighs of dying.

Everything was lit,
but there was
no music.

The curtains were pale,
glowing white.
I could hear sparrows

gossiping in the eaves.
Small bits of ice
were raining on the roof

like sand pelting
and sliding down
gray shingles.

 

Rustin Larson’s poetry appears in the anthology Wild Gods (New Rivers Press, 2021). Recent poems have appeared in London Grip, The Lake, Poetryspace, and Lothlorien Poetry Journal. His chapbook The Cottage on the Hill was published by Cyberwit.net in April of 2022.

Edward S. Gault is a poet and fine art photographer. He lives at Mosaic Commons, a co-housing community in Berlin, Massachusetts.