The Ekphrastic Review: Albrecht Durer — The Wing of a Blue Roller

First published August 2, 2022 by The Ekphrastic Review.

Albrecht Durer — The Wing of a Blue Roller

A rainbow is rent from the body – 

a pinned wing for gaping and pointing,

painted in the planet’s palette and fuzzed

with the recollection of flight. Now

staunched under glass, mites still

creep in and chew the world 

apart, fast as oil slipping, not

mixing with the ocean’s 

bodily waves, 

rolling blue.

H2O, CnH2n

hydrogen oxygen 

carbon hydrogen

A hydra with heads that

render cutting futile. A hydrant 

hit cracks open and the deluge shoots 

sideways, it’s wrenching

to watch. My watch, wild with the blood 

of ticks, the spool is unwinding in linear 

time. The heat draws a line of sweat 

across our necks, the guillotine of 

human rule. A murderous 

monarchy an empire’s 

end, sinking on 

seeds of 

milkweed.