aurora borealis

write me a poem

write it without rhyme or reason

 

create a galaxy within it

swirls of phantom hues

amorphing like a giant amoeba

the raven is at its centre

 

there is a snowflake suspended 

somewhere; it is what you will dream of

brushing past your eyelashes:

its fire burns a hole 

 

now, add silence, the slow march 

of winter shadows. Add darkness 

filled with light which shatters the illusion,

slices it like ulu through  king salmon

 

imagine something vital has been left out:

perhaps the memory of a late evening

snowshoeing past cabins with curtainless

windows: eyes adrift, skipping pebbles

 

think of desire: kettle

whistling through a frigid morning

a scatter of blueberries over

whipped seal fat; girl in red parka sledding 

down the hill, leaping flames of green 

and purple engulf her

 

The Iñupiaq call them kiubiyaq: spirits

of ancestors playing kickball in the sky