On the Wing, by Katherine Williams

Revelations 21, by Sister Gertrude Morgan (USA) c. 1970

On the Wing
​
All kinds of creatures in Heaven's bestiary.
They protect my labours from the Evil Eye.
Sometimes the innocents follow Satan's black poodle.
The words at the beginning are also at the end.

Dragons witness their redness cast into the earth.
Green jaguar plays tugowar with the purple lamb.
Orange gargoyle grooms the yellow jackalope.
All kinds of colours in Heaven's bestiary.

Spectral fishes neon through bright bluey jello.
Heaven’s gargoyles hover with hummingbirds.
Heaven's dogs dream Behold! God Army.
They protect my labours from the Evil Eye.

Teal dogs paddle after holy kayaks in Heaven's red lake.
They inspire dogs on earth to sainthood— 
except for my dogs, suffered no more to visit the dog lake,
for they follow Satan's black poodle right on across.

Heaven's dogs dream Behold! God Army. 
Holy Ghost Power swims them away to freedom.
I stand on the sand of the lake, calling and calling,
and my words at the beginning are the same at the end.

I’ve got four now on the wing in Heaven's bestiary.
Edna, Sully, Moe, and Louie, protect me from the Evil Eye.
Satan's black poodle leads them forever into temptation,
and the words at the beginning are the words at the end.

Katherine Williams

Katherine Williams has published four chap books and read at venues from the L.A. Poetry Festival to the College of Charleston. A Pushcart and Best of the Web nominee, she has poems in Spillway, Projector, South Carolina Review, Measure, Ekphrastic Review, and elsewhere. She is a retired biomedical research technician living on James Island, SC.