Life Cycle
First, I was the wind, turbulent and unknown,
sneaking into gardens to steal shadows,
touching your hair while you rushed, late
for work, yearning only to be clear of here.
I would run through my days, eating the sun
and writing letters to the moon. It was bliss.
It was nothing at all. Then I hardened
into stone, loved and mean, I understood
nothing and wanted even less. After enough
years had passed, someone threw me
into the eye of beauty. I rippled, wanting
for the first time to know. Afraid of the wind
lest it steal something. When the sun came out,
I melted into sulfur, clean as a wound.
When you whispered my name, I suddenly
understood: there’s nothing to learn. Only be.
*
Raised on a rice and catfish farm in eastern Arkansas, CL Bledsoe is the author of more than thirty books, including the poetry collections Riceland, The Bottle Episode, and his newest, Having a Baby to Save a Marriage, as well as his latest novels If You Love Me, You’ll Kill Eric Pelkey and The Devil and Ricky Dan. Bledsoe lives in northern Virginia with his kid.