Jamie Parsley is the author of seven books of poems, most recently Just Once, published in 2007 by Loonfeather Press. In 2004, he was named an Associate Poet Laureate of North Dakota by current Poet Laureate Larry Woiwode. He lives in Fargo, North Dakota, USA.
That burrowing color
was a toothless thing.
We lived with it as we would another child.
Our faces, white as consumptives,
mirrored it, even its wallowing shadows.
a gift from Gin
For over a month, fire has raged
on the otherwise bare white wall—
a single red flame like the sanctuary
light before the symbol-festooned aumbry
that heralds the sacred Presence.
All this time it glows there—
red as a heart and just as big.