i am witness to the threshing of the grain

John Hoffman

i am witness to the threshing of the grain
the man of corn
		hanging
from a dry oak bough

bade us to be silent in our flailing 
he bade us 
		the understanding that pervades 
		the silence that is veiled 
his whisper is no louder than the locust

bade us no louder
			whrr chk chk
			whrr whrr chk chk 
flailed man threshed and scythed 
hung man of the harvest 
wheat bearded one 
unfleshed

none the mistletoe on our
			     smoky 
			     plain 
thus man sheared by the sun 
sterile fruit of the dry oak bough

hanging
	turned gently to caress
	a wing of crows
	and turned
	and saw
	and bade us to be
		     silent

Rain

The rain Let the summer rain that rains
Falls A flood upon the battered stones
Make grow the dry banana trees
and a city Permit the serpent in the garden
is To build a nest on the withered stalk

drowned. But Allow the bird to presage death
And let a universe be sung
A door swung open on the rain

John Hoffman

2008

Thirst

Where broken clouds lay dripping
On the edges of the afternoon
Our footprints littered summer’s beach
Abandoning lying driftwood
Torn pictures old letters and the death-buzz
Of flies against the murderous dunes
Returning was to die of thirst
Or see the sun possessed descend
And dive past wet horizons

John Hoffman

2008

Vortex

As the wind unscatters me
Spindle hurricanes unwind
Direction from my horizontal eye

Blow down the ocean’s fences
And approach my wreckless remnant
Bones bedenizened by birds:

Or contrive a moment from
Whatever sheaf of breath remains
To edge a word along a wind-left wall.

John Hoffman

2008

Poems

i am witness to the threshing of the grain

More by this poet

Rain

Thirst

Vortex

Poems

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i am witness to the threshing of the grain

More by this poet

Rain

Thirst

Vortex

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