Journey I. Here we begin to name: branches and rushes, precious metals, animal flesh feeding troughs, flinty stone blue of ground up sapphires, yellowed letters, oxen prismatic-celled honeycomb in rocky crags, ruined cities, rocked by previous generations, jackals, estuary and stream II. then counting begins: lines on our palms, age spots forming constellations nebula reflecting nearby stars scales like D-minor and the number of arias running wild III. at the crowning is our contractile hearts set within lessons cradled by metaphor, the covenant of the numinous where our timbres of vocal folds fan out in the great blossoming along with glad curiosity and where our original frail sails (in the dance of water and keel) are now winnowed, shook out and finned
Liz Nakazawa is the editor of Deer Drink the Moon: Poems of Oregon (Ooligan Press), a collection of nature poems by 33 Oregon poets. It was designated one of the Best 100 Books about Oregon in the last 100 Years by the Oregon State Librarian. It was also a Best Picks of Powell’s. She also edited The Knotted Bond: Oregon Poets Speak of Their Sisters (Uttered Chaos Press). Her own poems have appeared in Turn, The Timberline Review and The Poeming Pigeon journals and haiku has appeared in ahundredgourds. She has published a chapbook of her poems, entitled Painting the Heart Open.
Amethyst Review 