What Is Revealed Side-By-Side Poem by Warren Falcon

Recalling Barnardsville days in the Blue Ridge

1

Silent, side-by-side, reading.
An occasional 'hear this then. '

Read aloud, words, bread, jam;
familiar tarnished knives spreading;

wedding set, grandmother's, all hands
forget intent on feeding, reading to each
gathered mouth.

Heads nod.
Backs of hands and books
are napkins. Smiles all
around.

2 - What Is Read Out Loud

Beneath witnessed wheels
dancing stars gather stones at dusk,
pockets fill climbing World Tree to

apogee

then downward turn,
stones flung low to dawn,
that largest sun stumbles
alone to blue, screaming,

I WANT A WOMAN

heat enough to reveal morning's dove-blind croon,
burnt crow, having no use for light, missing
a leg, perches hard against the solar wind.

Sun's call, different as bird and star, discloses.

3

What is revealed:

the mouse in the hole that loves the hole.

How the serpent's tail shimmers when tossed
out the door -

BE GONE

How one has learned to shake the sheet,
the pants, the socks, the heel-worn boots
before the getting-into, the putting on,

for even a snake loves a warm bed,
a pillow for its head - found once a
skin shed on my flower patterned
pillowcase, fleecy lambs forever silently
bleat as the cloth thins slowly slowly
from head wear, dream wear

because I was once a sleeping man.