Vernal French Hymn by Preston Smith
While she inhabits the world, so does
the Holy Roman Empire
Songs from the Aether: a collective
conscious
She curates memory, bootsteps
on crass cobblestone
The way fingers loop around teacups,
cold but held
Tight in her throat: birdsong, rasp
one hundred years
Fleur de lys growing in manmade cracks, margins with names
In the docks, a city of nymphs
befriend her horse
To get close to her, check margins
for empires and dynasties
A song is a name is an archive,
outlives the corporeal
august 11th, 2020Preston Smith is an MA candidate in Literature at Wright State University. He is a poetry editor for Periwinkle Literary Journal, and his debut chapbook Red Rover, Red Lover released from Roaring Junior Press in early 2020. He can be found on Twitter (and Instagram!) @psm_writes, tweeting about his cats, Helios and Misty, and fairy tales. His poems appear in Black Bough Poetry, Nightingale & Sparrow, and Pink Plastic House a tiny journal, among others.