Brightening

We are wind blowing,
we are choosing sighs.

Oh, the sweetest of honeys,
the finest of sugars,
the freshest,

our thoughts ripple like fire,
we are fine,
we are brightening.

Far away from faceless miles,
we are headed for paths,
scratched in graphite,
notebooks sermonizing to pencils.

We are wind blowing,
we are choosing sighs.

Through polished coins of coal,
we are delight,

sleeping in the longest moonlight,
ringing in the slowest dance,

hope in the time of dying stars. 

Empyrean

the comet shadowboxes in the falling of her brief flight
          and yet,
          as she passes by,
          trailing stardust,
          she points at the world,

to feel her sweltering is to taste a genesis apple,

          she speeds the outer limits
          as a sunburnt pioneer,
          piquant as the flavor of a lemon,

she is a beatnik with a bit part,
a charm cleaving the night’s black heart,

some call her electric and
          others know her as Sally,
                     and some think she flies because of a midnight contract—
coming down to earth
          where starlit Hollywood
                    meets Orion,
                               balanced as the grandest of archers

astronauts vault themselves up,
challengers with strong arms
in a race between Norse gods reaching for astronomical heights,

           even in high and dry deserts
           descending into erosion,
                     one can imagine the heft of heavens
                              the zeitgeist of bridges, silent film, and space—

Marco Polo may live in turquoise pools,
          but the sky belongs to erupting volcanoes,
          the sky belongs to hovering flames.

Rivers

Rolling stream and galloping river,
water falls with a mirroring fulfillment
crashing into the world with a turning of tides,
returning with a promise.

Fish flail and resurrect upon the rocks,
pink and silver salmon,
Chinook and Coho,
coming home to spawn,
with only an encouragement from nature
and a nod from the sky,

where recognition happens under moving waters
where logs tumble through narrow passages
under unstable green bridges,

In the grandest of all romantic gestures,
at the mouth where the river meets the ocean,
fresh water and saltwater merge into one
without any help from humanity.

Samantha Wright lives in Sedro Woolley with her husband. A graduate of Western Washington University, her poems have been featured by The Moonstone Arts Center, The Showbear Circus, Cathexis Press, Welter, Beyond Words, Wingless Dreamer, Mignolo Arts, and Halcyone/her words.

“Empyrean” was originally published in Cathexis Northwest Press.