lightning in a long-legged bottle

What the poet would label "a meander", it is actually, as I understand it, what is called "projective poetry", wherein the poet takes the subject and follows it, not constrained by an expectation of so many lines or such-and-such form.

lightning in a long-legged bottle

I happened upon
lightning in a bottle.
a long-legged bottle.
capped perhaps
by a careless hand
who didn't understand
that lightning
needs to be free
to find its own level,
its own peace.
and so, sought to trap
the radiance,
the jazz, the power.
and in doing so, sapped
the light,
the beauty, the energy
to a level a fraction
of where it was
and should be
by the very nature of lightning.

so, I shield my eyes
and pry loose the stopper.
and pray she stays
at least in the immediate
vicinity
so that I may watch
her dance
between clouds and the earth.
between my dreams and my waking.
and never resent me
for placing her
in a bottle.
but smile upon me
for having set her free.


William F. DeVault. all rights reserved.