Identity Is The Music Poem by Mary Angela Douglas

IDENTITY IS THE MUSIC

identity is the music
the fingerprint swirl in clay
the living imprint, still,

of a bygone day.
the piano player roll
now on display,

the sunset repetitions.
slight alterations
of the way you felt one May

there you are under the willow
and your harp at bay
mute in a mermaid affliction

with nothing you can say.
my identity. the trees whisper
when their own leaves fall

but this is not a headline.
or the writing on the wall
nor the cause celebre by politics fed

the boring beast, just released,
generic peace.

this is what orpheus meant, eurydice
in the Kingdom of the Dead
and you who think it is in

the trending ink or you're on the brink
of the stagelit prize
don't understand don't understand

that it's all lies.
identity is the music
and not the polemical stand.

visionary, on the faraway Strand

mary angela douglas 26 march 2018