Hunting
the Divine

A Poem
of Longing

By

Joseph
Anthony

With
all of the ferocity of a hawk

Dive-bombing
a rabbit

I hunt
your name.

I see
myself sending feathers, fur, earth,

And bone
scattering through the grass,

I feel
myself sinking talons into your sides,

Your heart
racing, your eyes turning upwards.

I want
you mine.

I want
you devoured.

I want
you in my blood.

I hit
the ground hard,

Slamming
my efforts into nothing.

You’re
gone.  Shot like a streak of silent
lightning

Into the
tall, leaning cities of the whispering grass.

Stunned,
I shake my head, take a moment

To preen
my wings.

Thought
I had you that time.

So
close.

I
could taste your desire to not be captured.

And
then

Through
the still and thrumming summer afternoon,

Your voice
breathes into the breeze, like

Blue ink
dissolving into water:

“Next
time,” you say, “Just ask.

Ask
and I shall give myself to you.  Gladly,
joyously,

With all
the delicious rapture of eggs breaking

Freeing
the flight of the future,

I will
simply let you swallow me whole.

I do
not come by force.

I do
not open the chambers of my heart

For nothing.

Pay me
with your manners,

Pay me
with tears of bone-crushing longing,

Pay me
your devotion to the gifts I gave.

I will
gladly step out into the open and wait, humming.

True
Love never responds favorably to aggression.

And I
know the meanings of the words, never and true love.

I know
original loneliness and the ache to be known.

Try to
hunt me down

And your
grasp will hold nothing but dust every single time.

Do I make
myself clear? You know I do,

Clarity
is my middle name.

It is
your eyes that cloud my vision.

So let’s
try this again.

I step
from the grass and offer myself to you,

And you,
for your part,

Ask,
ask me to be your bread of life,

And I
will let you break me into pieces,

And I
will let you lick your talons,

relishing
the flavor of eternity.

In
return, let me do the same

To
your incessant, self-deprecating shame,

And we
will both enjoy each other

With all
the roiling passion and abandon

Of night
dissolving into day

And day
giving way to darkness.”

Copyright Joseph Anthony of the Wonder Child Blog

Love’s Revelation

By

Joseph Anthony

So many flowers,

so many blossoms unfurling silken
petals.

So many colors—lavish and wild.  Such proof beyond measure

the Beloved’s love for us.

Of course autumn tugs at our sleeves,

admonishing us to let go, to let the
oceanic mantle of the sky

bear us to the ground where we will
simply shine again.

Of course there’s winter, when petals curl inward,

fall to the ground, dissolve into
the earth.

These journeys too are love’s revelation.

For autumn blazes, like slowly blooming fireworks

cascading over the hillside.  And winter, winter is spring’s still and
silent prelude,

where the notes gather on the
shoulders of sleeping angels.

And spring, spring broadcasts rebirth and transformation,

letting us know nothing is lost,
everything returns to us

a thousand fold in robes of dazzling
light and faces full of deep gratefulness,

spring is when angels awaken and
sing the day into flourishing.

Dear Flowers of Life, on this summer’s day after a long night

of wind and rain, share your beauty
and your fragrant jubilation,

share your visions and tears of dew,
share your voices

of silk and satin, share your songs
of sky and stars,

share your elegant openings and
slender stalks

so that the world may partake of
your ambrosial devotion

to the unveiling of the love that
dreams in the dark, 

luminous womb of creation.

Painting by Joy Jo

Copyright Joseph Anthony of the Wonder Child Blog