Nicholas Trandahl

LUNG PRAYER XXI

 

Saint Bernadine

 

liquid

meadow

distal

to orange

slime mold

 

 

            breathing

                        control

 

 

salt

in the foam

opening

pious

rites

above

bitter

puddle

ruins

 

 

            breathing

 

 

            breathing

                        breath

 

 

            [ … ]

 

 

stars

gathered

at the muscle

            chasm.

LUNG PRAYER XXVII

 

Saint Bernadine

 

 

canonized

in moist

clotted

air

 

 

            any

            breath

           

 

            [ … ]

 

 

mossy

tangle

ribs

brittle

in contraction

 

 

                        breathing

 

 

            [ … ]

 

 

                        breathing

 

 

too cold

for this pink

slivered

            slash

blooming

beautifully.

LUNG PRAYER XXXIV

 

Saint Bernadine

 

 

windblown

across

settling

            pond

film

 

 

            any

            breathing

 

 

milky

strawberry

foam

blockage

afterburner

            scorch

 

 

sweet

with ice

blisters

 

 

iron

fragrance

on the neck

like wet sex

breaking

against

the gates

of slumber

Nicholas Trandahl is an award-winning Wyoming poet, photographer, and journalist. He is a community leader, mental health and suicide prevention advocate, and a disabled U.S. Army veteran. He has been awarded the Wyoming Writers Milestone Award and his poems have received several nominations for the Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net. Trandahl is the author of seven poetry collections, and his poetry and photography has appeared in various literary journals.