This wooded island is theater,
yet I hear your dinner bell
see shadow patrons lined up
on the porch of the Grand Hotel.
In the ether book
growing fatter by the breath,
lifetimes, chapters, illustrations,
and an ever-expanding index.
Sunburst opening then gone,
black holes sucking up oxygen,
photogravure versions of vacations,
and detailed studies of your gait
like a horse galloping off the ground.
You and I and all this
water under the bridge,
we are welcome at last
at the table of light,
cups of mercurial wine,
stories of time on earth
that might be lies.
Douglas Cole published six poetry collections and the novel The White Field, winner of the American Fiction Award. His work has been anthologized in Best New Writing (Hopewell Publications), Bully Anthology (Kentucky Stories Press) and Coming Off The Line (Main Street Rag Publishing). He is a regular contributor to Mythaxis, providing essays and interviews with notable writers, artists and musicians such as Daniel Wallace (Big Fish), Darcy Steinke (Suicide Blond, Flash Count Diary) and Tim Reynolds (T3 and The Dave Matthews Band). He also writes a monthly piece called “Trading Fours” for Jerry Jazz Musician and was recently named the editor for “American Poetry” in Read Carpet, an international, multi-lingual journal from Columbia. In addition to the American Fiction Award, he was awarded the Leslie Hunt Memorial prize in poetry, the Editors’ Choice Award for fiction by RiverSedge, and has been nominated three time for a Pushcart and Best of the Net. He lives and teaches in Seattle, Washington. His website is https://douglastcole.com/.