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Journeying with the Owl
a
right hand pointing
chapbook
Larry D. Thomas
copyright 2020 by Larry D. Thomas
All rights reserved.
photo by Dollar Gill
"Americans, as a whole, seem to go to extremes to avoid the subject of death, as if it never occurs," writes Larry D. Thomas. "Other cultures, especially the Mexicans to the south of us, have a completely different and much healthier attitude toward death, regarding it just as integral to the circle of life as life itself."
Our regular contributor, Larry D. Thomas, has been cited on NPR for his writing on Mexican culture. His chapbook Los Días de los Muertos, is one of many we have published over the years, and was inspired by Larry's interest in cultural attitudes toward death.
It is our pleasure to present this new sequence of seven small poems, Journeying with the Owl.
Dale Wisely, Right Hand Pointing
1
The quark
closing the circle
of life.
Journeying with the Owl
Larry D. Thomas
2
Commencement
of the whitest
of white light.
Journeying with the Owl
Larry D. Thomas
3
Sacred place
where marigold petals
are the silken flames
of candles.
Journeying with the Owl
Larry D. Thomas
4
The o
of the gaping mouth
freezing with the whoosh
of “oh…”
Journeying with the Owl
Larry D. Thomas
5
Miraculous
happening of birth
reversed.
Journeying with the Owl
Larry D. Thomas
6
Supine
on a scaffold
on the high plains,
bound in a blanket
suffused with sundown,
remains wait
for crumbling
by the wind
into dust.
Journeying with the Owl
Larry D. Thomas
7
Weightless
as a luminous veil
of gossamer,
a door
opens
to the spirit realm.
Journeying with the Owl
Larry D. Thomas
Larry D. Thomas, a member of the Texas Institute of Letters and the 2008 Texas Poet Laureate, is privileged to be a longtime contributor to Right Hand Pointing. He has published numerous award-winning and critically acclaimed collections of poetry. His most recent book is In a Field of Cotton: Mississippi River Delta Poems, Blue Horse Press 2019.
right hand pointing