appealing

The Maynard
Spring 2020

Chris Checkwitch

Breathturning

and of your fire and breath,
melt down and integrate

—“Tribute to the Angels” by H.D.

Bronchioles,
fractal, diminish in
diameter while on they
lead air thereto open
into waiting
alveoli.
The diaphragm-drawn swell
of an inhale:
to tissue, given
as enjoyment.

Wider open, sampled,
altered in the cycle’s
half-point lull. Exhale
could not precede
osmotic stride to equilibrium.
Gaseous vegetal by-product
nourishes blood
which offers ash in turn
that it may float its way
once more to patient leaves.
Liturgical, this dance
maintains the wheel
that swings the scythe of harvest.

Separate, interior system:
you melt into the world.
Self, other-leavened: cells
swallow the warmth of an intimacy.
Respiration fuels a heartbeat
midst its gas economy:
this instant-red
blood cells swim counter to
those blue with carbon waste.

Dance of living anchored in the element.
Rhythm interlinking
every life, the latter
yet remaining free.
Through lipid temples,
sunk in living
water, fire
breathes in
me.