The Margins Where We Live
The Margins Where We Live
Original Text
Ortiz, Simon J. After and Before the Lightning. Tucson: The University of Arizona Press, 1994: 108.
1Overnight, the air froze.
2Crystallized. Now, a thin breath
3lies on the prairie hills.
4Light becomes certain in cold,
5not glazing, not luminous,
6only captured and stilled.
7The margin of reality
8is the margin of illusion.
9In that margin between
10the prairie and us lies space,
11vastness that confirms existence.
12It's the air frozen
13and it's our awareness.
14Nothing more, nothing less
15confirms our belief.
16The road will be deadly
17and will still take icy skill
18to drive on.
19We will have safe passage.
20The margins will always be the space
21where we live.
RPO poem Editors
Ian Lancashire
RPO Edition
2004