Rushing Toward Entelechy

by Janet I. Buck

Come sit with me, in valleys
of my shoulder blades,
whistle something in my ear
to quick correct his hollowing.
Be an owl that takes the night
and pats its haunting in a song.
Tell me straight and lovingly
that I should go from void to wealth
where speech is more than chattering —
idling in alcohol, preserving ghosts
and lies of black obsidian.
Tell me I should prop my feet,
wiggle my unpainted toes
where struggle is a loaf of bread
and every hug is trimming crusts.
Where lunch is more than padded menus
scribbled with a choice of wines.
Where aging is Vienna choirs
and harps have music in their strings.

Ahead I see a Christmas tree
of borrowed pine, its glade
and mint approachable.
Its ornaments are made and spread
by open palms rushing over river rocks
toward seas of blue entelechy.
I need to hold the raisined grape
of wisdom's aging fruit in bowls.
Crave a carriage made of wheels
beyond the rusted shaft and stone.
Dreams crawl up between the cracks
of silences and guarded ways
like earwigs pinching soul to life.
This opal set in front of me
is scooting toward a summer sun
and milking teats of miracles.
You show me portraits of a flower
and I can't live with tumbleweeds.

Janet Buck's poetry, poetics, and fiction have appeared in The Pedestal Magazine, Poetry Magazine.com, CrossConnect, The Pittsburgh Quarterly, Kimera, The Rose & Thorn, 2River View, Southern Ocean Review, Disquieting Muses, Urban Spaghetti, Perihelion, Mind Fire, Born Magazine, pif, 3rd Muse, Verse Libre Quarterly, Big Bridge, pith and hundreds of journals world-wide. Buck was one of U.S. poets to be featured at the "One Heart, One World" Exhibit at the United Nations Exhibit Hall in New York City in April, 2000. In January 2001, Art Villa Records released Janet's first audio CD of poetry and music called Before the Rose. It is available at: http://www.artvilla.com/shopping/poetry/rose.htm To hear a sample from the CD, go to: http://www.artvilla.com/mp3/umbrellas.mp3.
Note: Featured author in January 2001
E-mail: JBuck22874@aol.com
Writing interests: Poetry
Poems: "The Orphan", "Caught in Lesser Tragedies", "The Broken Promise", "The Gargoyle", "The Going", "The Bag Lady", "Rushing Toward Entelechy", "The Paralyzed Apocalypse", "Frozen Sonnets", "New York, New York", "Live on CNN", "America Under Siege", "Gutter Balls"
Links: Hot Links: Janet I. Buck, Janet's Latest Interview, Desideratum's Doggie Dish, Author's Den, Active Amp.org—Features Janet I. Buck, Poetry Magazine.Com-October-Janet Buck, The Part-time Postmodernist (August 2000), San Francisco Salvo, Moongate: Janet I. Buck, Offcourse, The October Country , Cafe Society: Poetry Life & Times, Kookamonga Square, The Adirondack Review , janetbuck.com, Funky Dog Publishing—Janet Buck's Strawberry Nipples, Athens Avenue—Janet I. Buck, One World-One Heart Exhibit , Ygdrasil: Issue 9 September 2000