In The Same World
How did its embryo come to be
a parrot, caged & staring at me?
The stress of being locked in a cage
initially saw the bird enraged.
Now it’s weak, and habitually veers
& raises its claw if anyone nears.
Reduced to a flightless, listless
thing with no design to escape –
“I speak, I speak, I speak, I speak!”
are the only words it apes.
CAROUSEL BY THE SEA
Counter-clockwise nymphs
rotate about the center
(sense made hallowed
by going in reverse --)
See? the fiberglass head
our sea foam queen
leads the chariot’s charge
the blast and whomp of
blue tin angels play to
a different heaven --
as the snarling Tiger
jumps from the dark --
bejeweled by chandeliers!
r.s. mason’s debut book of poems, Nearer to Never, was published by SUNY Press in 2015. The text was a finalist in the Eugene Paul Nassar Poetry Prize. Poems have appeared in Chronogram, THEMA, Milk & Cake, and AMP. The pieces submitted are from a manuscript titled – FIELD GUIDE.
Grand Little Things 