swifts  &  s l o w s · a quarterly of crisscrossings

purple cliffs of sunset
Matt Schumacher

← back or next →

Milkywaygalaxy of Mooncalf

where the big dipper radiantly cradles
and ladles celestial elixirs
into dizzying mixtures
map of mooncalfland
baffling mapmaker and moonraker alike
unraveling travelers ravenous for adventure
boasting cities no bigger than a whisper
hidingplace and haven for the Chatham Raven
revealing seas replete with lost beasts
rekindling heartbeats of extinct species

If We Walk Far Enough into the Wilderness

maybe, shedding the manmade like snakeskin,
can we transform into an animal and never return?
Just stay and really live

the river, peruse its liquid book like Chinook Salmon,
like the Grizzly on hind legs nuzzling the forest,
because there’s more for us than this,

and why not fly away from pain to a place without regret,
fast and sure as the Peregrine Falcon
skydives off the purple cliffs of sunset.

With glowing eyes and dew on our paws.
No memory of fear, money, or human laws.
Our names and shames erased.

Clear-eyed wonder restored. Every day halcyon.
Part of us will always hope to be
released from captivity

if we walk far enough into the wilderness.

← back or next →

Author of six poetry collections, Matt Schumacher edits the New Fabulist journal Phantom Drift and lives in Portland, Oregon.