another piece from: the stains of burden and dumb luck

In Some Other World

In some other world
stars shine brightly
upon the wounds of our
ancestors, stored in gates
leading from one place
to the next.
Songs that herald the
passage of time by birth
still are sung as we
enter into this world,
dreaming.
The distant reaches
Of a song of
Storied memory
Of mny mother’s birth
Is the history
of recorded time
upon shells of
red, deep sunset,
and carried at
the hip as a gesture
of remembrance.

In some other world,
I speak the words
of my grandmothers,
frozen across this life
as I gaze out from
behind her
eyes, singing her
world into existence.
Her words pass through
my lips, echoing
across the flat plains
and oceans of stars
beckoning us home.

Starlight plays
Upon the phosphorescent sea
As jewel of many colored
Like her eyes, as I gaze upon the
Dark cloud-bearing rain.
Mending the tear, I cast
out her net and call forth
the songs that bring corn.

In some other world,
The first shoot of silk
Reaches toward the space
From where we all came.
Like us, they look to the
Sky, wishing they could
Call back the ones who left.
Like them, a silk tuft of gold
Gently calls the rain cloud.

The sea is strong,
Grounding us here,
in a space
of breath, the faceted turn
of a song from the sky.
In my grandmother’s voice,
breath escapes my lips
passing in the veil
of some other world.

© Carolyn Dunn 2009