Slewfoot Sprawls
I.
It’s a pixel pasture
where words graze, bold
as black-eyed susans in the ditch.
Click. Send. Throat tight
as a jar of canned juice.
I’ve mapped this distance:
two blue dots on a screen,
glowing like foxfire in the evendark.
II.
Growth of green so hungry, it swallows
the steep incline out my window
And up– up– past the high road
to where the electronic church bell
tones the passing hours.
I trace your voice in the static:
“Someday,” you say.
We accept this benediction.
III.
We don’t speak of the bodies
we’ve been: screen-bright ghosts.
A laugh spills
through the speaker, sudden
as persimmons falling in the road
on KY Highway 1295.
I let the signal slick the silence
between us. My chest sprawls
wide as a field after rain–
then contracts
as it should.
IV.
Tonight, my porch bulb’s yolk-light
sprawls on wet concrete. I’m learning
to hold space
for myself again—steady,
no flinch.
V.
Let the world call this small.
Let it name me unfurling—
you: tendril, tendon. Me: tender
and terrible.
Your pixel sun spills gold
on my oxygen tank. But look: the fireflies
stitch the breathless dark between us.
VI.
We are becoming
barnlight on broken glass,
debris spilling toward a creek
that remembers nothing
but motion.
Come over, I’d say.
Bring your hands—
we’d stain them
with tobacco and tar.
We’d navigate
that labor later.
32 thoughts on "Slewfoot Sprawls"
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YAY!!!!!!!! Slewfoot’s back !!!!
Love it.
Stunning work this year Shaun
And we still going.
Have a blessed day.
YAY! and this
” I let the signal slick the silence
between us. My chest sprawls
wide as a field after rain–
then contracts
as it should.” As it should.
Thank you so much, Coleman! I have to slide a Sluefoot poem in there occasionally!
You are writing on another level, Shaun. This is wonderful!
Darkly gorgeous
“–steady, no flinch”
Your poems create these moods that are absolutely spell-like.
Oops–didn’t mean to post as a reply.
Thank you, Sue! I really appreciate it!
Thank you so much, Bill!
love the seamlessness of the inner and outer worlds
Thank you!
Lots of evocative lines, like “barnlight on broken glass.”
Thanks, Mike!
I love the bulb’s light – I can hear that yolk falling and sprawling!
Thank you, Nancy!
I love the rhythm and energy of this poem.
Thank you, Linda!
I’m with Bill and Sue:
You ARE writing on another level and the voice that rises from the mundane that is anything but mundane in your poet’s eye is magic.
Over the past couple years, you have become one of a couple poets who are by far my favorite spinners of night webs laced with morning dew.
Proud to read and know you, sir.
Thank you so much, Joseph–and it’s mutual! I’m glad to be in community with you (and the LexPoMo crew).
As others have said: you are on a higher plane this year. I’m not sure I fully understand this poem but I’m in awe of its enchanted language and nocturnal mood. Evendark, barnlight. Thrilling.
Thank you, Kevin! It’s a little more interior than some of my other poems.
beautifully written with a haunting, tender tone
Thank you Linda!
Wow…wow…wow
Fav stanza: IV
Absolutely adore:
Your pixel sun spills gold
on my oxygen tank. But look: the fireflies
stitch the breathless dark between us.
Thanks so much, Pam!
Strong poetic structure. Magical, incandescent language. Masterful writing, Shaun. I learn much daily by reading your poetry and others in Lexpomo community.
Thank you, L! I learn so much every year, too.
The structure, rhythm, and vivid imagery bring burst this poem beyond the stratosphere.
“Growth of green so hungry, it swallows
the steep incline out my window
And up– up– past the high road
to where the electronic church bell
tones the passing hours.”
Brilliant!
Thank you so much!
I cannot select a favorite stanza or line or word. Love the mystery, the use of the common to create an uncommon, the poignant language to elicit questions.
Thank you so much, Virginia!
I love the more formal, archaic languge used to describe this modern relationship and technology. Feels very unique.
Thank you, Maira! I appreciate that–I didn’t realize I was *doing this* until you told me!
I imagine the poet casting his vision far beyond a confined space–digital distance! I love: “Let the world call this small.” The poet says otherwise!