POEM OF THE DAY
Man on a Hook for Don Becker
A tense braid
strung out between Alpha and Omega—
A rubber band
slowly unwinding its knots—
His body vibrates,
propelling
a gossamer vulture—
This bird
made out of words
trolls the slipstream
kowtowing to each slightest puff of inflection
with sudden bank, yaw, or stall—
And his body, that strut of scars
shakes, rattles, and rolls.
The man on a hook,
locked down by gravity,
crows into the microphone,
his voice in exult sizzling with static—
“This bird is a go! This bird is a go!”
The shining needle rises
on a pillar of flame,
its green mission
to sew together
the rags and tatters
of the universe—
And his body twangs, a twist of sinew
strung between here and hereafter
on which the psalmist
hunter in song,
tuning his deadly harp,
strikes the chord,
grace note in the thump of blood
that calls out so lovingly
laments and praise
to the Lord God, his prey.
Dana Pattillo
(PoD 50)
9:56:57 PM 
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