Duduk Poem by Mary Angela Douglas

they did not realize the latter day tribes

one sentence in the fairytale could indicate five hundred years

the smoke rising over the village


and the fires banked throughout tears

innumerable roses in the garden and the banquet set I know!

and no inhabitants.


what do you mean the surly asked

missingthe winter ingredients for the stew

i cannot rescue you


I cannot be rescued from this page this lapse

though I look on every map and clasp and uclasp my Soul

though I throw out the ropes of silk


made for us in a distant more prescient age.


there are the mermaid transformations

to walking on land. the knife of every step

and the song still glad in an infinitely sad way


rising over the ochre the forgotten roofs

forever while we pray


mary angela douglas 24 april 2020