Linguistic Alchemy

Each attempt
to write
is an effort
to understand
the multiplicity that resides
inside the mind

where images, phrases,
snatches of conversation
leap-frog
one over the other,
tumbling around
within a mental vortex

that can be likened,
sometimes,
to a summer squall,
and sometimes
to a tornadic storm.

Parsing the vestiges,
seeking translations
from vision to word
and back once more,
interpretations
of truth,

of each moment,
drawn from kissing frogs
or a murder of crows,
ink-blots and fingernail moons.

Alliterations of life
contained inside the jumble,
reaching out
to touch the world –
as words scratched
upon a page.