ascetics want
to do nothing but peel
in places where
angels attach to an obsessive love
but don’t eat their crust -
they were first manufactured in the middle ages
and, in today’s world,
correspond to a warped mirror
or an otolith
scraped off the dung
or a fracas of fern-like creatures
or glow-worms made invisible by bright light –
they wade in an outdated map
of ash and bone
in the literary equivalent
of household cellar
start nothing new
but fall like melancholy
into whichever interpretation
will have them
— JOHN GREY
John Grey is an Australian poet and Rhode Islan resident, recently published in New World Writing, River And South and The Alembic. Latest books, “Subject Matters”,” Between Two Fires” and “Covert” are available through Amazon.