Chip Livingston: Take Leave, Take Air
Photo: Joanna C. Valente
Ode to Scales and Shingles
Take my shed carapace, take my anonymous
lifelong tracking necklace
dormant till its recent stretch, the serpents’ nerve
and coil effect
I twist I’m patient
paused to ebb
the sure-bit bet-on track of red
no scratch no sudden moves to spread
the raptor talon tasked to web
a net of isolation rare
around the culebrilla pair
a gar tooth pearled to draw a counterclockwise stair
an exit, a reticulated dream, a prayer
take sleep, wandering thunder-bearers
take leave, take air
San Antonio
saint anthony is known as the patron saint of the grave
the patron of the poor
identified with ellegua and ogun
san antonio is a mystic often petitioned to restore what is lost
saint anthony is not permitted in the ________
san antonio is taken in grand procession through the streets
/ an icon of paradox
a patron of peasants san antonio is
\ more than a literal cogitation on temptation
san antonio is the patron of animals
carved from hardwood
/ has experienced the reality of our lord’s prayer
saint anthony
\ is celebrated with a grand procession through the streets
Chip Livingston is a queer, mixed-blood Creek author of two collections of poetry, Crow-Blue, Crow-Black and Museum of False Starts. Livingston’s poems have appeared in Ploughshares, Prairie Schooner, New American Writing, and have been featured on the Academy of American Poets', the Poetry Foundation's, and Lambda Literary Foundation's websites. Livingston teaches in the low-rez MFA program at the Institute of American Indian Arts, and lives in Montevideo, Uruguay.
