--- R O N A L D   P A L M E R

for Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844-1889)


Call:  I'll call:  a caustic secret a crime-- 
then watch it stall:
a deflated lung 
germinates black nests of ice:  infests 

a glacial desire's pose like dry-heaves of dread.  
Now your mind's a divided island: 
like mischievous Michelangelo's horned Moses:  

marbleized mirrored-stare finds a heavy head 
reflects:  both Lucifer and sufferer.  
I too am infinitely oxymoronic--
dutiful son:  agreeably disowned planet--  

O father:  together:  our ballad's 
bass line's 
in a chronic panic.