Semantics

Take any word and cast it / too far into meta- / phor; it snaps, loses / its first meaning becomes / a sound, like the figures in dreams / souling together meaning / and craziness into new / creations: Now this girl is / a tree, a spider, a vesperite. Like / we exist for the gods / to form and reform / at whim. Or this old / couple who seem content knowing nothing / takes one form for long and / therefore praise everything / as if each had a soul. Some gods / show up dressed / as if poor; the pair / serve dinner. Bums are just / children after several meta- / morphoses. Therefore, their home becomes / a temple; they’re granted / to remain together / always, and one day / die simultaneously, becoming two / trees with entwined roots / and branches, a circle, an image. In this world / they are always one / soul; only in the one / they came from, soul / is restless, turns her- / self into a verb: Trans- / form is the word with / which your language dreams / to capture her, hold her for- / ever.
 
 
 

Michael Collins’ poems have appeared or will soon appear in numerous publications, including BlazeVOX, Dressing Room Poetry Journal, Red Savina Review, Blood Lotus Journal, Mobius, Grist, Kenning Journal, Pank, Smartish Pace and SOFTBLOW. His first chapbook, How to Sing when People Cut off your Head and Leave it Floating in the Water, won the Exact Change Press Chapbook Contest in 2014. A second collection, Psalmanadala, will be released in 2015.