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Reflections
by eddie Thursday, Mar 23 2017, 10:04am
international / poetry / post

looking down at the sky
reflected in a rain-pool,
the entire sky caught/trapped, it appears,
in an armspan of perfectly still shallow water
but birds are not fooled
they gather by the pool to quench their thirst,
rain is scarce out back

swarms of flying parrots move in waves through the sky
caged by their reflection in the pool,
desert palms take their time drawing moisture
from the sandy desert
wet red ochre rocks shine in the sunlight
watching from their vantage
everything captured by my eyes
reflecting reflected light from everything seen

images interchange between observer and observed,
somewhere in this sensory orgy is reality
which seems evasive moving swiftly from eyes, brain,
pool and sky -- or rather on a stationary screen behind my brain
which renders not only the seen but unseen into fleeting masterpieces
too quick to capture on any physical medium

reaching for the horizon is easy as space collides with desire
allowing the impossible to become possible

i wonder whether i should embrace the entirety or let it dance
according to its own beats, which vary depending on circumstance
and other influencing factors

nature’s living landscapes cannot be caught, framed and hung in some gallery
to be admired by the dead, only the dead could accept such paltry substitutes -
though moving reality comes with its own dangers, a desert taipan slides between
rocks and spinifex clumps, activated by small prey scurrying for insects
intoxicated by the rain

life is plagued by death,
each death ensures the survival of a particular
predator, however, all succumb to the apex predator, man
a species that is never satisfied until it kills everything
on this planet, including itself

sitting by the night-pool
the moon appears and disappears
between reflected clouds

at another angle the dead pool shines
reflecting nothing but the purest
blackness