henry 7. reneau, jr.

wing-borne flute aloft

flute/   carved from the wing bone of
a red-crowned crane/
nothing is isolated   /; everything is   a/
part   &/
participates in   /a greater
whole   /(the sum of)   inheriting wing  & 
/   swirling through swaths
of cumulous gong/   enabled flight   & up/
lift   of musical notes/   that suffuse the air
&   /vibrate
 
/not   /the destination   /but the journey
 
/   is not dead   /   but is no longer
what it was/   is spirited   /: this beautiful kind
of spiraling elevation       /up
/ward &   /onward  
 
/   the mile marker signs/   pointing the way to
the last chance for gas/food/beer   in 1 . . ./
2/. . . 3/. . . 4/. . . 5/   . . . more miles
 
/transcendence/
                         like
 
/   immigration/   where we must always have
an escape plan
/is when we categorize survival   /
as having a direction/   such as
towards/   or
 
away from   /as good as any religion
 
finding a place   /within a constellation of believers/
each uplifting
                       the other   /
towards a higher power   /which they might
call God   /
or might simply   /   call each other
 
/nothing is   a/part   /; everything is/   a part of   /
& participation in/       the sum of
a greater whole   
​

--
henry 7. reneau, jr. writes words of conflagration to awaken the world ablaze, an inferno of free verse illuminated by his affinity for disobedience, like a discharged bullet that commits a felony every day, a spontaneous combustion that blazes from his heart, phoenix-fluxed red & gold, exploding through change is gonna come to implement the fire next time. He is the author of the poetry collection, freedomland blues (Transcendent Zero Press) and the e-chapbook, physiography of the fittest (Kind of a Hurricane Press), now available from their respective publishers. Additionally, he has self-published a chapbook entitled 13hirteen Levels of Resistance, and his collection, The Book Of Blue(s): Tryin' To Make A Dollar Outta' Fifteen Cents, was a finalist for the 2018 Digging Press Chapbook Series. His work has also been nominated for the Pushcart Prize.