Ephebe’s Quest #3

(This is the reason I haven't been posting. I can't finish this section.)

3. Air - Hunting For The Queen

finally, leaves make lace of light, thinning

trees reveal corpulent clouds purposeful

as a trundling chancellor delivering sour advice

above a bright alfalfa field like a ballroom

with swaying crepe paper poppies, garish sunflowers,

purple thistles prickling solidarity, fragile white cosmos

quiver as lazy Painted Ladies push proboscis deep tasting

their nectar, the humming muscles of a doe

relax. I have no bow. I am hungry.

my filthy skin itches more than that churning

organ. entranced. to see the entire sun!

damp wicks away as I walk. my clothes

stiffen. grass prickles. the dew renews, I kneel.

taste the fresh. beneath

relief, my mother scratches my

hippocampus like swallowing a diamond.

waiting for it to pass without tearing

and leaking, oozing detritus and freeing

that hot pressed sparkling precious bone

to stop my heart. I am being

watched. sunlight on a telescope lens reveals

a blind in the tree line. a dainty verdigris cooper castle