Never Before This Poem by Gerard Coley

On the riverbank, lie head to the river,
Eyes to the double moons, waiting for silence,
And the embrace of time; the woman appeared,
Lying on the other bank, eyes to the long sun,
Head towards head, silence. When an earthquake
Shatters the equilibrium that held its father,
Labyrinthine paths weave through the bowels of earth:
Hold your hands: the sun appears high in the sky.
The banks rising like the ancient sun, glowing,
Ninety degrees to the ground; the Grand Canyon
Is a geological formation - it accepts fire,
Legs open to the red heart of the planet;
The sides of the whiteness welding, firm, cold;
The width of the river was zero, each wall
Calling to its brother, pressing into contact,
Like the squashing of the supple mound of rock.

O mortal wallowing below, then came that vile
But cherished moment when the Earth fell anarchically
To its side, rotating through the archaic circle
Until, falling, the standing man lies on his side;
The top wall disappearing like the magician
In the fable: a puff is all it takes,
Know that my children and you will be wise;
A hurricane calls to the humours of the cliffs.
The final moment, stones binding like wire,
Holding each minute actor together in play;
And the yield of one side yields into another,
Burying itself in soft elastic body;
Compressed, bonding with the heat of reaction,
Or interaction; looking into the double suns,
Double moon against it, and that which is left,
The corresponding yield, is all that matters.