Spirit Suite – Étude N° 8 by Lorraine Caputo

I awaken in the blackest night 

to watch my past depart 

beneath my pen, 

spilling onto these pages 

in blood-red ink. 

They slip through the open window, 

scattering upon the ground, 

decaying into the earth.

& now the dawn breaks. 

Fingers of approaching sun 

lightly touch the thin clouds 

with silver, gold & rose. 

Outside my window 

the buzzards have amassed, 

pecking at my cast-aside emotions, 

feasting on the rotting carcass. 

They spread their wings wide. 

The gusting wind 

& drizzling rain 

touch their stretched 

& ruffled necks.

I watch them there, 

from the silence of my room. 

A few notice my dark form 

& fly away. 

I hear the thump of their

heavy bodies as they 

land on the tin roof. 

The others continue feeding 

in the shortening shadows 

of dawn.

Lorraine Caputo is a poet, translator and travel writer. Her works appear in over 150 journals on six continents and 11 chapbooks of poetry – including Notes from the Patagonia (dancing girl press). She travels through Latin America, listening to the voices of the pueblos and Earth.