A Sacrament

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 A SACRAMENT


A flicker every now and then 

of…hmmm…let’s call it apprehension 


of how far I am from beginning

to touch the end of understanding


things. Flicker implies flame, 

which is the denotative name 


of the element that briefly touches 

down tonight on a front porch  


in Tennessee, calling to life

the collection of dead leaf 


in my pipe bowl. The experience

is much the same: an inhalation 


of breath, a transformation, then this,

which is a kind of dizziness


as I know myself both as smoke

and the fragrance drifting upwards.


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