voiceless breath

now going for the open-throated voiceless breath

gruntless air unimpeded by the song of complaint

revolt resistance alarm remark must only be shaped

by the upper locks and low-girding pistons 

this is how to fan a flame not pinch it out 

the breath not the beat must create the rhythm 

not where any convention spells death as in poetry 

when breathing is beaten and choked to pulpy bits

air flows best in the channels invisible of reference

no tune of childhood jack in box will abduct 

my forward-aiming whisper-only bellows

or the smoke on my billowing clear tendrils

our gut flora soaring for their measly lives

or this desultory yet shameless carbon-dioxide

no raga no jig nor carol can jam the engine

non-metaphoric breath itself must come first

before the florid code or plea for recognition

the slide and squeal of wet tendons in contact 

could be no more than nothing without air

which as breath shall be my fulcrum and lever

by Peg