Transparent Poem by Mary Angela Douglas

something in the fairy tale has made me transparent

or I have become the root system of the stars

not all of them


just a few on the right hand side of the mural

where the children sit in rows

and try to figure out the codes on the blackboards


in the early language of algebra.


I pretend to know them: both children and codes

the cosigns but I am resigned to the fact

that it doesn't go that well.


i can't understand why there are equations

and I can't keep up without a reason

my mind just balks.


I think of the castle again, a rose one


the blue velvet shadows of trees

when it begins to rain and the rains sweeps in

ruining the medieval furniture


and I am more transparent now


than I have ever been so that small birds do not fear me.

they fly straight through

and their music you could not imagine.


o crystalline you


even if the world turned to chalkdust

and staying after school forever,

you became the last one.


mary angela douglas 23 july 2019