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A Sheaf of Light
DAVID MC ALEAVEY
DAVID McALEAVEY
A SHEAF OF LIGHT
for A. R. Ammons
a sheaf of light speaking centimeters off
the story of flood, the story of death, the story
misery knows, the grand story of delusion & bliss,
speaking turtle posture, ostrich technique, beaver
message; or the story of grace, halo, possibility;
speaking miles off, using beacons & farsighted
observers, speaking into iron vats kilometers
apart, & into flaming indian paintbrush,
spirea bushes, into giant clams, savings banks;
a sheaf of orange light, coral light, blonde
highlights. ultimately sheaf of light, of grain,
of arrows, of grain held in an arrow's wood,
& the sheaf matter is, hollow-hard, uncolored
glowing. in any one place, any circumference, on
any map that shows the gleaming place it speaks.
it says come together. it says diverge. it says
everything except darkness which merely says "ah,"
ghosting along the channels of light; behind every
speech non-speech, every message falls on silence;
it says beauty, irish comfort, no death but in life,
& no life there; says pomegranate, every fruit
in season, every season; complete instant union,
undecipherable gap between things, & every possible
relative position; the sheaf speaks such a clear
warning, clear as a bundle of light in your hand.