Astrum and Anima
cursed green graves
moss over sin
stones worn smooth with penance, petition
eyes cast upward to ribbed vaults and
gást saints
gold fleck spilled
a place where two silver suns rise
and two suns set
and my two shadows argue
their double illumination
one cast backward, one yet to arrive
tinctures at
play
vermillion on sable
sulfide windows and mercury glass
distilling aether
i take in with my senses,
the disturbance of my essence
physick and light
a balance of quicksilver forces
as i look within
and ask
where am i
not incased bone and sinew
and not inside my head
i am not a place
but astrum and anima
cohered forces
held in balance on a high wire,
red star-fire that refuses to fall.
the graves remain still
a low dark hum
burgundy
not forgotten—
present
Martin Fisher’s poems have appeared in Antae, JMWW, Ink Sweat & Tears, Poems, Tales & Other English Words, Cosmic Daffodil Journal, Elysian Literary, and Neon Smoke. His working life has taken him across Africa and Europe. He now lives in the UK, where he works as a professional gardener. His poetry moves between the cosmological and the domestic, the strange and the tender — alchemical sequences, folk-elegies, and quiet observations of the natural world. He shares his home with his wife and two dogs, Eli and Juno.