“Butterfly Cloud” by E. A. Hanninen, 2009
Inconsolable Here I lay my tinfoil heart upon your altar, giver of grace, keeper of angels, maker of life, taker of days. The dove soars freely above your lakes, past shallow depths through hospice clouds and fields of yellow. Threads the summer with blossoms close, feathered strokes, wings spread far past wallpaper-weeds, rusted trees bowed with leaves. And I am chanting this broken prayer, this last-chance mantra; oh dreamer of saints. A sullen lens can pierce the shadows, find the darkness easy as light. Lie me down upon the grasses your birdlime bait; a hunter’s trick. Good rest is needed, my lips are open. I hear your calling my spirit flies out, one flutter— so quick. So quick, so quick.
Carol Lynn Grellas is the author of two chapbooks: Litany of Finger Prayers, from Pudding House Press, and Object of Desire, newly released from Finishing Line Press. She is widely published in magazines and online journals including most recently, The Smoking Poet, Oak Bend Review and Flutter, with work upcoming in decomP, Thick with Conviction, Poetry Midwest and Best of Boston Literary Magazine. She lives with her husband, five children and a blind dog named Ginger. Contact Carol Lynn (clgrellas@aol.com)