What Thoughts May Come - By Mara Lemanis

What Thoughts May Come

 

What thoughts may come

from where — you, me

transfusions braiding the air

sounds whirring

heavy with thought

from kingdoms come and gone

and come again

to ape historic trends

compact or warped…

Never mind nature’s charms

forget thoughts from a babbling brook

gurgling fresh, incessant

like a baby proud;

never mind the wind-blown rain

it only thinks I’m wet and if

you’re under me so will you be;

don’t heed the tires

on asphalt or cement

that hiss I’m running

don’t care where —

 

But slide a bow across some catgut

join with keyboard, brass, percussion

quick explosions

ring my chest

guttural sorrow

spastic joy

on a high wire

mid earth and firmament

arms, legs, torso

exhilarated dance…

I pause to reckon

what thoughts rode

that musical concert

that ran a highway in my chest;

sound rushed in

before the twitch of nerves

could run to panic

before my pulse could stitch

a shield of gray resistance

I heard a thought

without a name.

 

The faint blare of

the first trumpet

spinning a thousand

arcs around the sun

forever echoes

a sound joined

by the gods of music

opening aerobic thoughts

dancing nameless

on the highway

in my chest

I send to you

to sound in your chest

to think in your heart.

 

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.