Creation Myth, and: The Faith of Withered Seeds

Abstract

Creation Myth, and: The Faith of Withered Seeds Clayton Spencer (bio) CREATION MYTH After Ken Burns's Country Music, episode one What if the world wasn't spoken into existencebut sung, chanted, passed down?Chicken one day, feathers the next.It must have been obnoxious,all that yodeling at the end of every sentencewhile Experience coated the ground.There was a time when radiocaused entire householdsto dance right through the floor.Maybe it really was all incanted or hammered out,and then I came crawling, confused,through a tobacco field in New York.Spit 'er up, Jimmy! my hand said to the Sun,Why should the devilget all the good tunes? [End Page 107] THE FAITH OF WITHERED SEEDS I try and exit quick the bodymy lips move like moths at the centerof the apple from the center of the orcharda blue diamond reflects my startled grin how to plant silencelike an antique pack of seeds found in the foldsof an encyclopedia without instructions for carein the Garden I watch the moon lay itself across YouI watch white petals [End Page 108] wrap Your head I watch a man kiss Youthe way I once kissed You goodnight [End Page 109] Clayton Spencer Clayton Spencer is a worker, a poet, and a Kentucky-Appalachian. He holds a B.A. in English from the University of Kentucky and currently lives in Columbus, Ohio. Copyright © 2019/2020 Berea College