For William J. Barnum

Photo by Bill Perrault


A Dram for Billy Barnum

Billy wired rupees from Bhutan to Cornwall
To fund the everlasting circus of Buddha and Barnum.
He pulled a panoply of stars across a bee field,
An origami gramophone on a falooka to Belize.
Through his white hair, a tiger moth travels.
It lands upon a flower in his hand.
He passes the flower to the flower girl at the wedding
Of William Blake and Emily Dickinson.
He plants a kiss on her eyes. This is his gift.

--Gordon Marshall


The Poet Always Dreams

A lonely black crow soars high
against white moon
swooping wings that carry time
radiant death, a face of stars
shadow drifting close to heart.

For now, you choose to fly
this dark incline
where future grows into myth
floating forward in eclipse
horizon bleeds its own tide.

--Deborah M. Priestly