Filament - By Mara Lemanis
Filament
When all the motors
of your native coil
refused ignition,
stalled,
and you quietly folded
inside your final filament
I felt a vacuum strip away
the chamber where
you once lodged your
unfinished testament;
it stuck
in the craw of thought
and would not leave
would not revive;
I felt the gulf between
what was
and now is not–
I felt a senseless rage
at mortal logic
that never bends
never betrays
its indelible truth.
Impotent grief
trapped me in silt
fixed me in place,
when without signal
without seismic pulse
the flap of an instant
sprung a miniature motor
spun a column of air
and I saw your gaze
–like an image
repenting its shroud–
dissolve into mist,
vanish;
and a miniature
motor in me
flung out
an angle of light,
leaped across Holocene time
flew space years faster
than speeding light
to void nature’s logic
to merge with
the spark that had
stripped your dense coil.
At once I knew a logic
subtle as the dawn,
as the shy corona
on an early spring bloom;
at once inside
my leaden coil
I knew a seed
smaller than
a wink of dust
stronger than
the weight of
Giza granite;
and then I knew what
naked eye could never see
what the womb of thought
would always know–
that you and I would
ever spin together
in galaxies far
and close as air,
and together ignite
and stir and spin
and never stop.
Mara Lemanis
Mara Lemanis
Biography: Mara Lemanis is a literary scholar. Her essays have been selected for 20th CENTURY LITERARY CRITICISM and are included in undergraduate student textbooks in the U.S.
She has worked as an archivist for Historical Preservation and with the IRC, assisting refugees in Oakland, California.
Disclaimer: The views, opinions and positions expressed within this guest article are those of the author Mara Lemanis alone and do not represent those of the Marbella Marbella website. The accuracy, completeness and validity of any statements made within this article are not guaranteed. We accept no liability for any errors, omissions or representations. The copyright of this content belongs to Mara Lemanis and any liability with regards to infringement of intellectual property rights remains with the author.
