THE KINGDOM OF GLASS

By: Geoffrey Himes

In the Kingdom of Glass, the ending of all things

happens again and again,

like a body standing between two mirrors,

each catastrophe smaller and more distant

as it disappears into the past.

In the Kingdom of Glass, the queen’s limousine

has tinted windows, so she can see out and we can’t see in.

The black car moves slowly through the throng

like a cruise ship departing a Caribbean harbor.

In the Kingdom of Glass, the kestrels and owls

take different shifts in the wind-torn almond trees.

During the daytime, the owls sleep in the foliage,

while the kestrels hurl themselves like flint arrows

at the double-pane windows of the conservatory.

At night, they trade places.

In the Kingdom of Glass, a golden liquid

languishes in a crystal pitcher on a glass table.

The thirsty study it from an exterior window.

Lemonade? Chardonnay?

Urine? Gasoline?

In the Kingdom of Glass, the beginning of all things

happens again and again.

The sands drifting across the ruins

are shoveled into a red wheelbarrow,

carted to the furnace, where the grains are cooked

into a new transparency no beak can break

for years to come.

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Geoffrey Himes’s poetry has been published by Best American Poetry, Pacific Poetry, January Review, Survision, Pendemics, Innisfree Po-etry Journal, Gianthology, December, the Delaware Poetry Review, Salt Lick, the Loch Raven Review, and other publications. His poems are included in the print anthologies Singing in the Dark. The Ground Under Our Feet and Poet Trees: Poetry Hiding in Plain Sight. His song lyrics have been set to music by Si Kahn, Walter Egan, Billy Kemp, Fred Koller and others. His book on Bruce Springsteen, “Born in the U.S.A.,” was published by Continuum Books in 2005. He has written about popular music for the Washington Post, New York Times, Rolling Stone, Smithsonian Magazine, Paste, Downbeat, Sing Out and the Nashville Scene since 1977.