Line

Claire Marie Stancek

a system of lines is then discovered
by light, filtering through trees,
through trees whose branches discover
lines along the moss in light

and a system of lines again discovered
by decay, pushing faults
through the wall where mass meets solid mass
and cracks force air, like breath or death
if stone could breathe or die

and through the leaves the lines bring life
and through the skin the lines bring time
and time leaves lines in skin and leaves

a system of lines wrecks ways through land
and rails in lines plan ways and wait
and wait the line and take the line, the way
and wreck the way through land in time

a system of lines is now uncovered
by noses pushing through the moss in light
uncovering mounds and sheaves of lines in time
and turning the mounds with noses searching food

Claire Marie Stancek is a PhD candidate in the English Department at the University of California, Berkeley, where she teaches classes on nineteenth-century literature and poetry. Her first book of poetry, MOUTHS, is forthcoming from Noemi Press in 2017. She lives in Berkeley, California.