Ode to an American Original

By: Rosalind Black

I.

Write something wondrous
To the end of the universe,
With the letterhead dead centre
Of New York State,
Swinging an axe over
Every unmapped island.

II.

There was a pilgrimage in Sugar Creek’s valley
Flooding its sewage to Dresden
Where the water froze white and the heroine died
And the Deadeye knew Nazis and fed them.

And the spectators gathered at the slaughterhouse gates,
Where the jailbird told us the ending.
And sanctity dropped from the sci-fi man’s book
Where the life of free will was defended.

And Monday was blue when Dwayne said ‘Goodbye’;
Valencia fell on the wheel.
The piano played dirges as soft as a child
As the readers wept all by the bier.

III.

Hocus pocus on an April afternoon
Landing on bare boughs,
The sky went white with grief
And fell in pieces, drowning the
Spring in cold. All day to noon
And into night, a shadow cast
Itself onto the birth of Persephone,
Mourning for your sake.