Underlord (for Robert Newman)

by Ralph Pite

travel’s ichor

raw power
supplier

errand’s mycelium

*

Cracked it will evanesce
release motility extruding
filament webs spectacular
 for its niche

*

in shrouded east
 rare Juban
jawa, Io-benzoi, Benzene

like unto a
 fatnesse issued
out of earth

*

Away across the estuary
slender towers and at the highest
corner-point a flaming banneret’s
 forked hands

*

rainforest ferns

dragonfly’s 
turquoise abdomen laid

down amidst
spore-crusted fronds

and juiced by folding