Member Poem

Skylark, meadowlark, lark of earth and sky,
lark of sand and sea,
lark that traverse a path unknown;
from the depths of the ocean ensconced
in the warm embrace of a giant tube worm
camouflaged not in the skin of another
but estranged and always alive
like an octopus drawn
by the treacherous anglerfish's light
to the possibility of self-betrayal;
soaring alone through the vast desolate peaks
rakish snow-caps concealing the dead
who believed in triumph to the last
the thin air bringing clarity
and shortness of breath;
my lover dwelled everywhere and nowhere
and I lost her there
but in my lungs live memories
expanding and deflating
and always maintaining homeostasis;
I saw a black cloud of crows
and I remembered the swagger
the stiff-hipped sway she wore
in the back alley outside Lucky's
bumming a light.