new voice on the time garden John Berbrich (publisher of Barbaric Yawp) sends this poem:
Time-Exposure
Hands entwined, their eyes gaze into the future
Grainy black and white
Beyond her ruffled shoulder
An old chestnut tree, glinting dull sunlight
Beyond his, the barn stands in the distance
Like a mountain, birds roosting on its summit
Beyond the chestnut, white sails billow in the wind
Over the rolling deep-sea waves
Beyond the barn, a scaffold, stocks, and a fire
Fingers pointing at witches
Beyond the waves, carved gargoyles and monsters
Climb magnificent cathedral heights
Beyond the fire, naked warriors sharpen stone
And iron for killing
Beyond the cathedral, ghosts and demons wander through
A stone city
Beyond the warriors, blunt clubs lean against the wall
Of the cave’s mouth
Beyond the ghosts and demons, beyond the stone city
Beyond the clubs, beyond the cave
Two tails, snake-like, entwined
Dragons, the world burning
Fire in their nostrils, the dragons
Their eyes burning, burning into the future.
John Berbrich