Donald Brandis
NARCISSUS POETICUS
Hidden as part of a curt border of flower beds
in the western lawn, bulbs patient as a cemetery
wait to re-cycle our green-stalk, white-flower expectations
blossoms like reversed cones as if to be scent-sampled
by Cyrano, though bees too are welcome and more useful
the Frenchman would object, saying Beauty
is a vital shared uselessness
fulfilling a moment beyond character or description
her absent pale red-rimmed face consoles
a weeping eye against her ungrasped constancy
Now is that moment, he counters
in her snowy bed unseen unseeing weightless
moving only as the slow old earth she rides in moves her
only as our idle imagination pulls her backward and forward
in the same motion toward repetition;
Now is her still moment, and ours
never was or is in our seeing it seen
climate or weather or season or exclamation
but what unsaid these offer, witness and affirm
in passing impassive, a perfumed suggestion
Bio: Donald Brandis lives in a small town in Washington state, has written several volumes of poetry, most recently Hubble This, has recently had several poems published by The Camel Saloon and Poppy Road Review, sees influence in his work his favorite poets by William Stafford, Tomas Transtromer, Emily Dickinson, Gary Snyder.
Wild Goose Poetry Review 