The Ancient Modern
Room of Exits / Joshua Alan Sturgill
What is this body?
a crossroads, a convergence
pain & memory
illness & desire
a named place without a boundary
a wall-less room of exits
leading from itself.
What is this Self
within this body?
an asylum-seeker
sheltered for a wide moment
love & discomfort
food & reason
long enough to see the caravans appear
freighted or empty
messengers & songs
scholars & idiots
Youth, strength, age —
the wide moment draws down
swift, but seeming slow
and my leaving is near.
I choose for a guide
that solemn, distant mountain,
blue as the evening sky.
Which road will take me there
from crossroad to fulcrum
Meru & Zion
up to the high places
where the horizon turns
from line to wheel
darklybrightpress.com 