Unfeathered by Marlys West

When there was no one to call it weather, no animals
to feel the wet on their pelts, nothing at all to make
a complaint,

when what moved was the water.  When what moved
was the land itself. What moved before that, dust
spinning into clouds.

And before that, before that, what happened?  Before
the moon hung itself up in the sky, before the moon
had anything to do with gods or goddesses, before

the white light, before the black light, before sound
and anger. Before the black cherries, before red

fruits. Before the terrible lizards.  Before turning
blonde, before, before.

When there wasn’t the ether through which birds fly,
through which they
push their bodies

Oh, for the old days, when the sun was the center
of everything
and God knew the hairs on our heads,
counted them again and again
in his leisure moments.

If dark matter makes the bulk of the Universe; it does.
If there are electrons other than our coffee table,
which there are.
With what eye, etcetera.

Enter the volcanoes; spit coming out of their hot mouths.
We have some ideas concerning the Universe expanding.
As well some questions.
Why still moving? Why still shooting out

and in all directions? There is no center- is that true?
A red shift in astronomy means everything moves out
and away from everything else

What of the movements we make that push us together?
Here, my baby. Here my sailor, here my
sweet husband, here the sun breaking
over the body

taking a breath of ether: volcano, sailor, wave, water,
lung like a bag pulling in what came from the green
leaves. Pulling what came from the dinosaurs
and their iron comet.

In the old days the ether filled every space. There was
no vacuum. Nothing was not allowed.

Not our bright ocean, not this purple house with broken
floors and both my girls sitting on a black slip-
covered couch; reading books with bare legs
bent and soft feet in the air.

Marlys West is an award-winning writer living in Los Angeles. Her work is published in both journals and anthologies. She was a Hodder Fellow at Princeton University and an NEA grant recipient in poetry. The University of Akron Press published her first book of poems.