Mirror, Mirror

Upon a time,



thin black stalks meet the slope



turn into



                          a lean boar



                          runs into pine



                          hide hide hide



                          the hunters drop red coals



                          will cut shaft in heart vine



                          a needle hole



                          for tapestry            



                                          embroidery



                                          pressed against the wall



                                          since century thirteen



olive grove infested with strange worms



unpleasant, expressing



                          discord, plucked, shaved, sanctified



                          by Murasaki, beloved of Genji



                          Murasaki who knows the turn



                          of a dull knife



                          who knows the ill luck of the tide



                          kamikaze wind blots



                          port



O is the yaw O is the yaw



which is open O is the bowl



which is open and which will put



O is the jaw which will put and out



will spill



                          ears. They look nothing like the ocean.



                          In memory of Sindbad:



                          the steel bite beats



                          around aft yellow



cannonballs ping hollow



floorboards the adam



apple slides over



cut glass and peels



                          Adonis with premature wrinkles. Time to take



                          the epigraph? No, there is a lake



                          yet, lotus bending over reflection



maps across landmass. Shoreline



more complex upon closer inspection



is a fractal to follow is twine



linking cheek to cheek will meet



at nose. Treasure trove of Atlantis



hidden at the keel.



                          Call tort



the Queen’s strong men



witches brew and bad stepmother



the golden hen



forgotten brother



had been wronged



prosecution stand behind the tooth



tongue and court



fore, aft, head, heel



it’s cracked



                          but cured by pumice and lime



                          a slick volcano does smooth



                          lines cut fissures make no mark



                          but imprints in ash the last



                          amphoras



Coast of Sicily



siren sets up keen incessant



keening spiral through



a plane



which meets



filigree frame



at ninety degree bend



                          Once upon a time,



                          again gold, again young, again



                          twelve princesses spiral underground



                          feet by feet wearing shoes



                          for dancing the tambourin



                          follow reed across lake



                          follow whisper of worms



                          lost their way lost their men



                          no good anyhow



                          each sister the face of



                          another



                          each eye its own color



                          each eye its own specter



                          drops from the vine



                          never found



                          blinks black in dark



                          the end