Poetry by B.J. Buckley

Dreaming Motherwell: Blue Air

Breath comes in to break us –
oxygen
corrosive gas
tarnish
rust
wild stone worn down –
persistent thumb
of wind
breath
a hammer cracking
ribs percussive
counterpoint
relentless beyond
holding

Breathe

it’s diaphragm
not heart
the strongest
muscle
lifting
our inescapable
cage
which me must
( breathe )
carry, must not
lay
down
blood itself the iron weight
of air
ordinal
cardinal, slick black-
bird’s defiant
epaulets:
Song.
Wing.

Microburst, Blowdown, Lightning

When sudden
tunneled exhalations
(wind-lung
at warp speed)
avalanche downslope un-
bearable
breakneck weight
of the invisible
palm-slap-slam
whole forests up-tossed down draft impassable
pick-up sticks inextric-
ably crisscrossed […]

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Magritte on Horseback (This is Not a Cowboy)

Derby hat dead
giveaway
his face gone
apple green
first time that
cayuse
crow-hopped
(pipe
dropped
from that immaculate
jacket
pocket)

still

the sky
caught him
he saw
blue
infinite
inside
clouded wings
through
windows
in windowless
rooms […]

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B.J. Buckley is a Montana poet and writer who has worked in Arts-in-Schools/Communities programs throughout the west for over 45 years. She is currently Writer-in-Residence at Sanford Cancer Center, Sioux Falls, SD. Her poems have appeared widely in print and online journals, including december, The Cortland Review, CutThroat, and Green Mountains Review. She has received a number of national prizes and awards for her work. Her most recent book is Corvidae, Lummox Press 2014.