Poems Niederngasse

Valerie Fox
Offering Mandala
 
Horse, deer, mastiff, and yak
        attend a party, yap-
ping and clipping, ribboned and dressed,
        amidst human limbs.
They ask, how’d I get here?
        Where are my kin?
The blackness of these animals,
        and their heading west
might mean something
        or it might not.
Two vultures, past and future
        constellations, freeze
against the planet
        Earth blue.
A population infringes   
        upon these lands. A few odd books.
My own kind lie dormant.
        Late and undressed.
Put your eye to that eye.
        The ocean retorts.

Valerie Fox's new book of poems, A Voyeur's Handbook, is
forthcoming from Strawgate Press. She's published in numerous
magazines, including West Branch, Painted Bride Quarterly, and
Hanging Loose. She teaches English at Drexel University in
Philadelphia, PA.    email:  V.Fox