Stillness Wrapped, Unwrapped! Poem by Eric Cockrell

stillness wrapped...
layers and layers of sound,
sound defined by color, sweat,
stink, breath, and desire...

i walk the great plains of night,
the hunter, and the hunted.
i kneel in the shadow of a star,
giving praise to the Great Mother!

i am wings of bat,
the eyes of the great owl.
i am wolf urine on the grasses.
i am bark and bay and howl.

i am the flute of the whipporwill,
the shallow breathing of the mountain aroused.
the small black boy in Mississippi past,
staring hard at the walls of angry cant.


i am the political prisoner,
the religious heretic.
i am the murderer repentent,
the one who kills him.

i am the quiet drunk
alone at the corner table.
the book hidden in in coat
that cant stop the bullet.

i am the old woman hungry
for a lovers touch...
i am the touch, the memory,
the coming and breaking.

i am the prodigal, the refugee,
the starving girl who gives
her last piece of bread
to her younger brother.

i am the stray dog, the abandoned house,
the fire, and the homeless man who died.
i am the grave, the gravedigger,
the preacher, and the epitaph....

i am nothing now....
but stillness unwarpped by time...
sound, color, sweat, stink,
breath, and desire....

ashes, and unplowed earth!