raven-wise, reposed
with shoulders drawn
her plumage welded closed
to element, like armor

buffeted by claps
and blows, beset
by quaggy flows, she was
more resolute than rain

roosters inamorato pecked
and disapprobed
her cocky, warlike ‘no’s
still Grace was stone, unmoved

fortress of mother earth
her body wholly was
the boulder fastly rolled
to staunch a secret planet

O chickening unheard
verb terminal
undead-end metaphor
catastrophe obscura

that hid, against her bald-
plucked breast, the titt-
tittering bavardage
des enfants geomantiques


//