"The Force at the Center"

The force at the center is love

the force at the center is
growth
is coco plum seeds perfect
round
centrifical centered
force at the center is
wise is closing and
opening her
        heart, is opening
and filling her vessel
is round is
carrying the soul of the world in
her mouth is listening is
fire
the calamity is not
so sudden as to shake
her
is not so wild as
to consume her whole
she is opening her eyes
the sunlight is filling them
she tasted the dark
earth she nested her
slight roots new and white      down the old
root cut from its tree
down the deep highway
of gravel and stones
down the old faces
upward towards the
murmur of rain, downwards towards the dark
the love at the center is charred
it has a deep gash from quick lightening
this wood makes
the strongest arrows
this ash makes
the safest houses
this ash makes
the safest houses lean long into
the
earth and green
spring falls into
homeways coming
home-ways
the little becomes
center
large
the
face at the center is
small
its rings of life are echoing little
songs
silence breaks
them rarely young roots
she is diving
and singing she is alive
and the listening she was
not paying attention
before now she is
awake
now she carries her seedlings
and arrows
with white feathers and red prayers now she carries
ash oak
pomegranate
leave now
it is as it was
but now she's more
than the new world
that is rare
now it is real and she
is the wild
bird white opening
and centering closing
in the dark earth
she is white
clouds deep
in the stones deep
in
the smiling ancestors
she lifts their bones on her silent wings she
sifts through the demons with
her songs she
makes hay
golden and spins
nests of gold from
peat moss and decay
she frightens fear
and exorcises
ecstasy to freedom
the force at the
center is
quiet stone
centered
the fire is heated
the force is heated
seized by fire
              she is red
                  seized by
                  closure she is
                  black
                  opened by
pain she is white
her young roots find the richness
adjust and become
flowers to the flame
white bird
new again
leaving behind
ancient history
gathering, nesting
among the branches
the force
at the
center is
love