Ultrasound by A.E. Stallings

What butterfly—
Brain, soul, or both—
Unfurls here, pallid
As a moth?

(Listen, here's
Another ticker,
Counting under
Mine, and quicker.)

In this cave
What flickers fall,
Adumbrated
On the wall?

Spine like beads
Strung on a wire,
Abacus
Of our desire,

Moon-face where
Two shadows rhyme,
Two moving hands
That tell the time.

I am the room
The future owns,
The darkness where
It grows its bones.

{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }

Kimberly Miller March 6, 2011 at 4:52 pm

Love “Abacus/of our desire,” particularly, and the boldness and wit of this rhyming poem. Bravo.

Robert Crisp May 11, 2011 at 8:15 am

“Moon-face/ Where two shadows rhyme….” Well done. And thanks for showing me a new word: adumbrate. Feels good on the tongue.

32poems May 15, 2011 at 11:24 am

Sure thing!

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