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CODYARTS

Midwestern Mythologies

work by
Steve Nelson-Raney

Seat

Cold darkness drops beyond window's
skin dimly lit chamber's heavy
inheritance is holy companion the
plaster wood cotton cannot
be measured as worth age only deepens
colors and precious fragility these tiny
pieces their dense weight moments
of perfection sit here stare at
collection's inventory and wealth's
relics the best seat in winter's house



Flags

Flags of nostalgia swim
again (sandwiched amidst thunderous
vague rumblings the sonic
shooting stars the filigree trails) as new
gauze fresh definition drapes old
melodic evocations adjust lens focus
make these into a present breathing



Reward

Stare out into winter stubble poking
through snow's white cover as fruits
of mostly unintended labors unconscious deeds
come nest sit as solitary
permanancies and fragile reward


Two

Two luminaries resist storage they
continue their glow into each
bleak night's dark winter
twins as comfort beacons we
bask in this divided brightness



Finish

I.

These accumulate days the
suspension of utility ways so
much the same too much
for anyone's good it
seems choice and specific
grant here is a seed growing a
survival for enjoyment

II.

A common series so
written record says simply stay
put take these hours as
can accept what has
been given as its present

III.

Days dwindle toward their finish
a rarified allocation and
consistent difficulty under even
best conditions and this current
collection starves as all
others for any equal balance


Remains

The accumulated associated
remains small things left are
tangibles clumped arranged
before door as if grasping
a presence no longer stay here
as memorial and memory and as
best now to be done


Spark

Linear velocity with its attempted grace reappears as tonic. It all surges into this new year and begins displacement of Europe's bloody dark spectre's bones. How welcome to speak this spark this body of breath's articulation flying and coming none too soon.


Story

Indentations in old snow these
maps so many paths and records
small lives' journeys each a story


Grace

Middle month's passage
sinks burrows into deepest
depth sit look at what
shone days just past look
for light life as found
now as some grace


Close

True moments before then
after sleep carrying small
treasures the faithful guardians they
watch over guide dream hours then
more to memory such this
precious transit and all warmed
as held so close to heart


Family

Seclusion place allow all
gathered safety's breath wandering
here in retreat and nutrient
search small bodies attach to
thin bone branches shelter
under dormant foliage the mass awaits
moment's signal spark to move such
these adopted transients they
live here this family


Finally

Sun house finally the hours logged
as sad solitude in lightless gray
hued rooms those numbers in
this brightness now I
am no longer that day's inhabitant



A Life

A quilted jacket worn for
warmth with gratitude

gas fueled tiny
Icari hang above
bed floating bobbing in
each day's air

to have know his
methods (wiring and oil) hear details of all long transits
back forthing Midwest's
center

and now only this ignorance



Treasure

Consolates surrogate companions the
inventory stacked within too
well known silence chamber what
did not with reason extend
to alternate possibles some where
knots did not form pull tight what did
not occur only this vertical inheritance remains
draws when day finishes allowing assigned
collection as treasure and comfort



Interior

Nights late December late
afternoon darkness its merge
into evening

impressive allowed informants
arrive become what lives here filling
only this chamber

curled into piano's
architecture make a new aether
emit fragile whispered
jubilents muscular interruptives
jagged declamations with
remembered histories among
varied propulsives

what is conceived squeezes
body forward downward
toward an interior in
the darkness

these translations their nostalgias congeal to a bitter jewel with
modest sparkle

all sent into the
holy dark


Family

February days thin branches become house
aviary home various vagrant flyers cluster
as momentary family watch for moments
of ease partake offered meal beyond then
retreat back toward safety place we welcome
all this repeated brief flurry the moments
prized here in their such warm perfection


Monastery

Fabric's absence makes this skeletal monastery even more so. Inch by measure there is a clearing toward silence and its visual brother. Yet a beauty emerges (stark sun blazing floor's wooden planks disappearing then into gray gloom dullness; nothing remains here to rescue) with an interior disposition not sparked by calendar awareness nor resemblance to earlier older times. All here drops further toward disconnection severing whatever were once potential lines to living days.


Horse

Dark horse stands in wait amidst
overlookers their stern dedications


Brahms

This is sufficient these
three Intermezzi their beauty the
Elizabeth days the
memories this it is enough


Questions

Extraordinary presence appears before heart's eye in prelude to winter's jubilent bells after the interval of dark heat passing it peak.

Why such the burning aura the continuing warm questions.

What boils within decade's history well before residue spews afterward cautionaries.

I am so desirous to know what from this young heart.


Speech

A congregation of doves their frequent coos collage with other small tweets of morning cheer. The year turns toward a next cycle and each ripe arrival appears as its own hope sign. Some moments effortlessly float suggesting a balance against conscious ways within this time's allocation. To savor it all. Allow descent into each story as is possible hearing its bright speech.



Blood

New blood found cherished
as velocity and obtuse
songs reconsider all past
month's monastery hours what
returns resides endures as
sustained muscle


Leave

History body held to
own in loving clutch

weight sum mass shouldered
in days of clear exaltation the
quiet solitaries the public
exhibitions

so those times basked

leave now this wolf's
memory only as cherished



Flower

Whamo days some thing unfolds blossoms
toward possible excess sit here warm heart's external
vessel held embraced make stars the fragmented
propulsives set fire to all years' dedications breath
surge allows mind's ear race to what opens this new
barometer rises falls tentative feet groping
forward a mirror's window emerges a horse
galloping big body carries such heroic blood it
floods ripe vine arteries a visceral history's story voice breathing unfolding it makes this late flower


Obsolete

An empty chamber. The door opens allowing light to splay image against the magic fabric making a record in chamber's vacancy. These days of early excitement die their death their lives obsolete. Know that. And how to name what is new unpolished heat.



Arc

An arc
this life

stare from inside through windows to
cold
last April day

rain

I uncover these old
acquaintances these sound bells show
their unknown beauty for those
here

allow it all
to speak

so the years toward such love moments


Hardly

Still this humidity

in wait before
more storms

days taken without consent time
that is these solitudes

hardly a breeze hardly
a noise



Debris

Dark clouds. Spring has passed again nearly without notice. So too other passings to other places. Was wisdom ever found spoken there as meaning. An overlay churns actively pulsing above such somber ingredients.



(Aviary)

1) Light

Nests inhabited with lives robin's
cheerful chirp speaks above
bud's bloom blossom
bursting all this meteor light

2) Provider

Dense filigree cheeps chirps
tweets a layer above intense
vague mystery drone backyard
family wakes to another
day here the Eden facsimile

3) Bond

Beyond open window
door bond to what moves in
survival moments bestowed
upon rarified pater
provider as loving inheritance

4) Quilt

Early calls to associates sounds
sent out into morning
air answered from a distance this
talk quilt heard in its once

5) Refuge

Only distant voices move
air heavy with rain's
false promise the sound points
as uncommitted calls within
this refuge of disinterest

6) Plot

Arrivals then leavings as
such the ramblings meanderings taken in haste
and then as slow
bask in security's plot

7) Scribe

A few sparse solitary sayings
early greetings sent into silent
morning landscape this beauty
language floats in its space and
my grace as sleepy witness scribe

8) Immigrants

They arrive then pass
thru each being a heart
given midsummer day then
night generous dawn talk
upon waking then the play
elders siblings young amidst
tree's umbrella leaves so
this company these immigrants given
midsummer day then night



Silent

A suspension as annual
gift the abundance times
days hours moments sit static
remember here all histories
accumulated know them
again even as speech is silent


Midsummer

Moving torrents muscle winds
all through night hours a
big clearance after humidity days

Midsummer puer time at
peak year inflates
into its fullness the blossoms
the deep growth this
sustained vibrancy hangs
about in full beauty



Heart
(at Vatican Square, Rome)

Even as age thins browned
skeletal frame prostration with
scapular here in sun's line
these moments ecstacy or
mind's break before pontiff door
and who speaks a sacred heart



Close

Bird cluster chatter east
trees pre dusk hours waiting
time (a prelude to possible
moth meetings with granted
assigned companion) watch this
year slowly close some doors


Treasure

Rejoining self as remembered mid
September evening finally veering
toward median notch there is almost
familiar ground for body battered
about the breath the visual narration to
emit these so longed for sturdy sound
companions it all still remains


Secrets

Extraordinary last moments in
vacant months what was asked
here what fades what was told
so hard to recall bright
visitations they occurred only
as closely veiled secrets if they did


Nourishment

Sucked into flame's draft move at
light speed through these days the
year's fading color about is faint
song at parameters of this dream life


Fog

Through the new leaves these
numbered messengers dropping
numbed battered surviving
walker searches reaches for
wonder amidst morning fog


Early

Sit here through these
empty appointment hours
as adjacent neighbor airs
his Bach early


Stories

Memory stored released in
prolonged muscle commands make
these constellations sit
here back track to
key's first depressions
lowered in young afternoons as small
digits begin this mythos it now is
true as can be possible retelling
the remembered stories


Quartet

Black quartet they are silent
witnesses to each bleak sun
ascension into day's beginning
hours on schedule they join
quiet house observing this
pre spooky eve ritual and
another foliage demise


Fictions

Glossy fictions abound settings
for still dramas how can
these breathe midst
such inherited times the enticements
to that lost and earlier
day's held diligence oh
to sit among such trophies
in peace dine drink with
mutual jovial believers


All

Multiples within a binding for
portage some lack of primacy evidently
spawns this sad scrapbook it evolves wishing
for more said as guide this lineup the
substitutes become all a feeble
appropriated comrade sequence fills
secret pages warming in pocket



Life

Despite such heavy hours these voices still speak asking embrace as they rise making an aether atop harmony pillars.

There is transport here and affirmation.

Remember these syllables floating as each own blessed life breathing.


Before

A cold day but sun small
metal song tube assembled after
so long not taken to house's first
floor window to window walking with
breath as if for a first time then
all remembered as from before


Ground

Gourds a pumpkin a still life before
east window's ice layers in
calm silence the day's movement
sound beyond just beginning winter
sun inching forward to a peak then
falling to such cold darkness
quiet altar is kind ground


Away

Light in its diminishment. Dry days hard as match for loss. Untethered days with potential to be more so. Birds past their summer songs move on to brown and sparse tunes. Things so acquainted are taken and days move in an exact deliberate speed with hours known or not. Pulled as not before away from spine center flame to so things without and all days of brilliance pass without immediacy.




Signal

Only dots of white
nestle in green plastic
bristles this signal
to all eastward



Pan

Faint melody pan piper's winter
flute floats among
yard's vague light snow's
remaining patches standing as
scribe at back (west) window
darkness of day and year settling
in current year nearly lost
to sad varied distractions flute
call here is peaceful
song across over all
this the meager expanse

© Steve Nelson-Raney 2012