Mercy Seat

In profile, the face looks different.
A matter of perspective, one might say.

The way the case is made
to exact specifications

carries speculation beyond
its varied dimensions

like the orientation of an owl’s head
bearing left or right as easy as behind,

before. Golden air where wings unmoving
move us higher—

a spiral staircase, a torsion
turning us into ourselves.

To learn to see thusly, one needs
a cubit’s breadth, or likely far less

just a slight bend
to free the eye from its fixed steering.

The end is not the end we imagine
for our revolution is in rotation—

a mirrored turntable, the spinning
of magnetized molecules, the curve

of cheek and chin—an arresting
unsettledness

appearing.

Published by asaur