The Clearing

(For Morrison)

And then we will take on
old flesh
in the clearing 
just beyond
the sound of authority, and
the smell of brutality. It will
be flesh of bone bound dirt, 
and dirt formed bone, 
caressed
by independent winds, each 
a story of arrival, from here and there. 
This is prophet flesh. It
will not burden alone, being
vines of glory, ever weaving, 
knotted knowledge, formed 
of sun listening and body believing. 
Who would leave such a place
where flesh knows its won destiny—
to be held and to hold.

“The Clearing” © 2023 by Willie James Jennings. Used by his permission.