Harmony In Motion
by Zoë Gabriel
Consider:
planetary systems, libraries,
flocks of birds at sunset
practicing maneuvers
with flaming swords,
old maps, pieces of glass,
whether elaborate, Venetian
or transparent globes
round as the Pantheon,
an entire soprano section
flicked by a fingernail.
Even so: orbits shift subtly,
bookshelves defeat
the most zealous duster,
the screeching wheels birds make
have nothing to say to me,
‘Here be dragons’ no longer holds,
no trilling wine glass is a
perfect globe to tell fortunes with.
Inconstancy is what I know best,
instantly recognizable,
so why wonder at the cherry blossom,
the falling bridge, the bursting pipe,
the flighty lover, when
my own thoughts dilute and scatter
like molecules, rabbits,
sunrays through a dusty pane.
In the midst of a story or an embrace,
I sigh in frustration:
where did it go? When did
the spheres stop chiming like a clock?
Zoë Gabriel’s poems have appeared in Oysters & Chocolate, Word Riot, The Commonline Project, Thieves Jargon, GlassFire Magazine, Grasslimb, Centrifugal Eye, Poetry Midwest, Southern Ocean Review, Salt River Review, Locust Magazine, Unlikely Stories, AntiMuse and Cadenza; she has work forthcoming in Tales of the Unanticipated, Illumen and Weird Tales. Zoë dyes her hair, but is naturally tall. She loves books, languages, spicy food and colorful socks. She is from Europe and lives in Maryland.
Story © 2009 Zoë Gabriel. All other content copyright © 2009 Abyss & Apex Publishing.
Copyrighted by the author unless otherwise noted.
Art Director: Bonnie Brunish
