Allison Bishop "Beyond" (poem)

Sometimes I
push out with my hand
Push into air with my will
Stretch the fabric of another land
and lullaby the surface of empty space.

Like a child I
Reach into that cryptic pond
open the seam to somewhere else
capture in its murky bed
a shivering image

Hear the silence of a prayer
and the thunder of a waterfall -
an airless breath poised
like waiting for a leaf
to fall from an autumn birch

My hand returns swollen
It sizzles and smokes as if I
had suddenly too much blood
and had grown too big for my skin
full of empty space.

written at Northfield
2004