Self-Portrait As A Bird Falling Into A River At The Bottom Of A Canyon

by Jay Thomas

Date: Sun, 05 May 1996 20:46:45 -0700 (MST)

This canyon, mirrored
wound, red
earth
clawed
open by water
and time,
kept me rising:
frame of bones
and wings
suspended between

an ocean
of wind
and the earth's hot
breath, until

that dream
of a dog spilling
stars
out of his mouth, into
my belly
which he had torn
from beak to tail.
And then I knew

that I was falling
toward that black
and spreading
stain
of my relfection

in this canyon's
river bright
as the highest

clouds.

And now my body will break
its surface,
its wind-folded wings,
its fixed and open eyes,
and my belly

will open again
spilling rivers
full

of wind, feathers,
rusty earth,
and stars with wings

stretched
to both horizons.