Member Poem

Visions through the Raven’s Eye
 
i.
 
Arles 2069
 
Spiderweb rainbows
in the early dawn.
 
A young woman makes her way
through a field of flowers.
She scoops a web from her path,
a lock of her hair loosens
from its ribbon, reflects
the sun in palest gold.
 
Soldiers land on the beach.
Blackbirds lift from the fields,
giving a raucous warning.
 
She looks up in surprise
as they take aim and fire.
 
 
ii.
 
Harlem 1955
 
A man and a dog
run down an alley
 
gunshots
 
the man stumbles,
his dog stops, looks back
as his master falls
 
a flashlight catches its eyes
one more bullet –
 
ravens on the wires,
a necklace of black stones,
portents of a coming storm.
 
 
iii.
 
London 1942
 
A child runs half naked
from a smoking building,
blood on his hands and shirt.
 
The flash of a camera
captures his silenced scream
just as he’s blown apart.
 
In the photograph,
the smoke spumes upward
from his open mouth
making his last breath
as a flight of dark birds.