(for Raúl Zurita of Chile)
I woke after a fitful sleep
restless & tired
in America
the death of swelling fruit
the death
of 1/2 opened fruit
the death distended
of 1/2 written poems
the death
of 1/2 an unrequited love
the stinking death
of academia acadanemia
the thin blood of critics and theorists
black on the walls of every building
as the rich red blood of the poet
seeps thru the walls and into the laps
of those students who can hear it
crawling between the library
and back into the street
where its origin rides the wind
and in the water draining to the sea
to where all sacred space resides
libraries are as sacred as groves
of walking talking trees who hold
the words and songs of all Time’s poets
John Landry
Ijagun Poetry Journal 