Constraint

First completed poem of the year

Here — for Tuesday…

First completed poem of the year! Well, actually an edit and rewrite of an earlier poem from 2017. Still, I feel it is a new effort and a completion. In all the madness and sadness of these days, it is important to continue to create.

walking alone near the ocean where an obelisk rises

Constraint


because I am constrained by nothing
—the absence 

moves in dark spaces over and throughout
the long walk home

on my head a 
headdress —antlers and a fetish object 

magnetic to direction
the fistula opens 

to blood scalding silence 
walking and pausing

Feel the damp air
a movement over my face

gloved fingers secure a 
singular instance   the second wound

explosive conjoinment of tangled 
velvet        crescent moon in fog 

                the ocular anemone 
                alive and alert 
                beneath anchors
                trilling with an ancient voice 
                one eye open to the long depths
                watching water cool the hidden
                face

                a dark corridor —
                sailors and
                mermaids 
                touch the obelisk

          chance and intelligence 
          water    sea         fog          
          the projection 
          of dark stars      


hairnet equations on a spider umbrella
                                                        
                                       the black mask is removed  
                                                         eyes are shut by paper






Max Wolf Valerio, April 2017; rev. January 20- 27, 2026
                                                     
              

Stay Aware, Stay Raw, Stay Weird —

Till next time…