The Breath Between

from Miracle Strip by Matt Layne

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about

Music:
Ned Mudd
Long Range
from the album Buffalo T-Bone

lyrics

The Breath Between

When all the world roars like so
much blood rushing in your ears,

and adrenaline clashes
with police in city streets;

when the red myopic eye
shines upon you, and love makes

no more sense than a ringing
gong in a broken forest;

when the computer’s insect
chorus is an overwhelming

chant, and a single black ant
carries your whispered penance

into the crown of the oak;
when the answers you seek are

written impossibly small
on the mouse’s bones outside

her burrow, and the fox’s
tracks lead you to a dead end;

when the crow’s keening call is
a promise shattered, then, my

beloved sister and brother,
wherever you may be, breathe.

Breathe again and find the breath
between breaths. Do you hear that

soft tapping? The robin's blue
egg clutched in the peach blossoms

is cracking open. Soon she
will fledge, a red-breasted bolt

cutting through winter’s iron
rain to set this world to sing.

credits

from Miracle Strip, released August 31, 2022
Music:
Ned Mudd
Long Range
from the album Buffalo T-Bone

license

about

Matt Layne Birmingham, Alabama

Poet, librarian, raconteur; Matt Layne has been poking hornet's nests and looking under rocks since he was knee-high to a peanut peg.
I reckon you oughta check him out.