As Deep as an Inch
a crown-
ing awn of
wild emmer
wheat spike-
lets, fallen,
will open &
pawl, open
& pawl—
as nights’
& days’
humidities
go round—
to cinch its
dry rattle
of seed
into ground.
So profound
are the rude
mechanics
of even
a frond
of as basic
a food
as grasses,
it surpasses
the grasp of
academia’s
minds,
ever
breaking
apart, little
by little
the lines—
fine spines
in brittle
alliance—
thought
to separate
art
from science.
Seven Wishbones Guard
the Seahorse’s Chest
—not six, not eight, but
seven’s as evolution’s
deemed best—for
each horse wears
the identical vest
of vees overlapped
one across the next,
a chevron of geese,
a breast of plates
that flex. One
suspects the fishes
with only six wishes
were too soon
crushed, whereas
eight’s just one too
much wishbone’s-
worth of weight.
A chainmail link
too great, you sink.
Staying pliant’s
this armor’s art—
and a guarantee
of buoyancy
for the ocean-
roaming heart.
A Bat Goes Wherever
Answer Fails Inquiry
and follows that
failure intently.
Let’s say you lost
your hat and went
out after it and
kept after it and
only came back to
sleep the search
off periodically.
That’s what a bat’s
about. Where echo
drowns—that’s
where it’s drawn.
It casts for depth
and reels itself
down, winding
a way made of
cavity. Say you
found a thread
of fine sorrow
or a cast of regret
on a stone wall,
and couldn’t stop
making a ball.
What if you fell
for the absence
of reflection in
a well—a well
that didn’t seem
to end in the
usual pool of
cool water?
How far would
you tunnel after
a vanishing point
that kept
vanishing further?
Is this what it
means to say
forever? What’s
better than words
that don’t leave
tracks or answer
an echo back?
Maybe no one
but you knows
what a wayfinding
squeak you
make. Maybe
no one but you
really has to.
There are pockets
of world only
you slip into,
grooves of mind
so deep no sleep
will plumb them.
And you can’t keep
from them.
Todd Boss is a poet, Emmy-winning librettist, and film producer working on a series of novels. He hosts the podcast There’s a Poem in That, on which he writes healing poems for total strangers.
Read more poetry by Todd Boss in Terrain.org: the Letter to America poem “She’s Going to Be Beautiful” and three poems.
