Seek the Elegant Universe

By Rudolph Lewis

The caw-caw of the crow

migrant from a distant farm

hangs in a seminary grove

on a bare limb—

with a shower

of yellow leaves, he sounds

a note of caution

this season of harvest

& thanksgiving

Each page I turn

is one step

up the golden pyramid

of Ethelbert’s new book of poems

How We Sleep on the Nights . . .

his world of words

moves in polished wonder

from sensual haiku

to Calder’s tickling/Air

The meanings of love & war

daughters of heaven & hell

are closed eternities

of anguish & death—

why not be

underground

railroads, escaping

gravitons

passing through

invisible membranes

crossing the Mason & Dixon

to parallel universes—

strings

of peace, vibrating

harmony

5 November 2003