White on black on the edge of unbodied bone,

slopes a black mass of seminal red

and gray film

to invent what we have to hold

to restore worlds broken by a furious light

we could not contain.

This is the luster of emanation,

the aphasic shape of declension with its plural

and unique spheres

collapsed and fused, possessed of light in the viscid

of a jagged bone, colored by a blast

bleeding out in us. 

                                                            Zelem

Shifts supernal to adjure self

in a course body,

crinkled blue, splintered white,

shades the taut center

of stature with shapes of the zelem.

This is the bleak land of the divine in us,

what survives death

in vertebra of blue–black

words, alive

in prayer

when everything else fails

to speak between soul and skin.

Daniel Y. Harris, M.Div, holds a Master of Arts in Divinity from The University of Chicago, where he specialized in Jewish theology and comparative religion and wrote his dissertation on The Zohar. He is the author of the forthcoming poetry book, Unio Mystica. He is a widely published poet, essayist and visual artist. Among his credits are: The Pedestal Magazine, Exquisite Corpse, In Posse Review, Mad Hatters’ Review, Zeek, Sein und Werden, Poetry Salzburg Review, The Blue Jew Yorker, Wilderness House Literary Review, Poetry Magazine.com, Denver Quarterly, Convergence and The Other Voices International Project. Among his art exhibitions credits are: The Jewish Community Library of San Francisco, Market Street Gallery, The Euphrat Museum and The Center for Visual Arts. He earns his living as Northwest Regional Director of Development for Canine Companions for Independence. His website is www.danielyharris.com.