Skip to content →

Wave Trough

 

Sets the folds in alignment;

this a shallow, a constitution of drops

that moves to displace itself

and unconsciously reverts

to image.

 

In such a state,

the wave has become a setting—

a table across which cups

with propositions rolled inside them

are passed.

 

The passage of cups does not limit

the range of potential outcomes,

and yet at no point does the wave

dissolve into abstraction.

 

The shades

are drawn and we are

overwhelmed by flags

crossing the black divan.

 

An axis of rotation,

gliding a fraction of an inch

and yet unveiling its total mass.

 

Advancing, the disc of its body

shimmers. Alighting on the sand,

it reveals itself in a cluster of pulses.

 

Dilated, it lifts from the sea floor:

fine spokes radiating on a wheel.

It passes between bands of bright

water, a kiss or a plow.

from We Are PharaohFind more by Robert Fernandez at the library

Copyright © 2011 Robert Fernandez
Used with the permission of Canarium Books.

Published in Poems Robert Fernandez

This program is supported in part by a grant from the Idaho Humanities Council, a State-based program of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this (publication, website, exhibit, etc.) do not necessarily represent those of the Idaho Humanities Council or the National Endowment for the Humanities.