Palisades

       by Mimi Ferraro

Animus—
shadow wings on  
                        Triassic cliffs 
falcon, osprey—drift
the Palisades loom over our childhood like fate  Or the unconscious
On stormy days  antic winds blur steep bluff outlines   snare bristling trees 
rains sheet columnar tips   cliffs appear  disappear  as we dream them:
 a 200 million yr old mirage

Sunny days break the spell     truant doo-wop prophets   we look for signs in the sky:  
kick garbage cans down Blvd East   make our way to Alexander Hamilton Park arrive 
noisy  intrusive   sneakers scuffing marks on Memorial Rock of Death where Hamilton 
meets his fate   phantom duelists unrepentant as Aaron Burr cocking  his pistol   Slow 
flame summer afternoons  escape   to Lincoln Harbor   basket Blueclaw crab  we release 
at low tide

At day’s end   prodigal acolytes   we return   seemingly unbidden   to the other world: 
scramble cliffs  trails  rock face  search for  rumored Tetropod footprints  remembering 
how the Triassic slides into extinction   hoping we don’t tumble off the edge

Among the furthest Hebrides…will no one tell me what she sings?

Across bay harbor  river   at the end of the world    Manhattan drifts 
Above us    azure   Cerulean Warbler cry   nimbus ring of clouds