Magnificence, 4 AM
She thinks it wants to kill, this wind,
the wind with no mind—a transference
to everything out there.
Because she needs waking,
the howling is meant to wake her, a self
crying underneath her sleeping self,
the stilted house groaning on the edge.
For how many days now
this dominating sea?
Wind so absolute
it rides the rain sideways and up,
crashing out far beyond her
until the anchor
breaks away—
waves take possession, smash the boat
on concrete pilings.
But isn’t this what she came for?
Copyright Credit: Cleopatra Mathis, “Magnificence, 4 AM” from Book of Dog. Copyright © 2012 by Cleopatra Mathis. Reprinted by permission of Sarabande Books, Inc. www.sarabandebooks.org
Source: Book of Dog (Sarabande Books, 2012)