2 Poems

John Cross

Mathias as Stuka

The optimum altitude for Mathias is at the center

of the footlights, his face being thus lit at close quarters

& from below.  Slow, serpentine undulations begin in his shoulders

Scavenger for armor, Mathias the junker, the ragman

piece of beaten iron taught by a strap to blend with the clouds 

His voice SturzKampfs a hiss.  The faces he carries brushfire

& forest fire.  Mathias travels after dark, a little rounded, middle aged, & after

he climbs & goes down, a new, rough Mathias rams into air

Mathias, a shrill siren, travels after dark

The earth is splitting apart.  Repeat

Mathias sets out to study disturbance

usually silent

bursts like a flower in which he’s lodged

bursts like a flower crouched as low

catches the light shielded by fists usually silent 

many small pieces shiiish all the same he sings catches the light bursts like a flower

it’s so late many small pieces shiiish eagerly forward

little handfuls

on safe ground little by little dragged away little by little will be

shielded by fists bursts like a flower

usually silent eagerly forward

burst like a flower

little by little dragged away crouched 

as low were open the doors and cleaved