phanaerozoic

In Volume 12 (2014) of Kansas City Voices, my poem, “Ways of the Wind,” inspired by a vivid image described by poet Xanath Caraza in a few lines of her poem, “Matilde en la Hamaca,” appeared on page 74. I am reprinting it here as an example of the use of an epigraph and how that epigraph can illuminate the interplay between the visions of two poets.

Ways of the Wind

“There she was
In her yellow dress
And her hair open to adventure…”
– Xanath Caraza, from the poem
“Matilde en la Hamaca”

The wind had its way with her hair,
made it flow and twist, turned
its movements liquid, its strands
currents of streams braiding
the valley of the Brahmaputra.

The wind had its way with her hair,
brushed it with bergamot
oils from Calabria,
bathed it in the moist breaths
of benedictions, prayers
for intercession mouthed by
processions of faithful
in the plaza Catedral Basílica
de la Virgen de la Asunción.

The wind had its way with her hair,
used it, strand by strand, to catch
all the hues of a Sinai sunset,
as if it were yarn carded
for a coat of many colors.

The wind had its way with her hair,
sent it searching the leniency
of her neck, the Sahara slopes of
her shoulders, had it conform
to its caresses, its advances, its
countless ways with love.

– Roy Beckemeyer