Labyrinth Poem by Jared Carter

Somewhere within the murmuring of things
that make no difference-aimlessly playing,
drifting in the wind-a loose door swings,

banging against a wall; the piece of string
that held it shut has blown away. Delaying,
somewhere within the murmuring of things,

crickets and tree toads pause, listening;
now they go on with their shrill surveying.
Drifting in the wind, a loose door swings

in widening arcs. Each rusty iron hinge
creaks in a different key: each is decaying,
somewhere within. The murmuring of things

wells up - the quickening thrum of wings,
the pulsing, intersecting voice swaying,
drifting in the wind. A loose door swings;

no torch, no adventitious thread brings
meaning to this maze, this endless straying
somewhere within the murmuring of things.
Drifting in the wind, a loose door swings.


From Les Barricades Mystérieuses. First published in The Formalist.