TUNDRA

by FJP Langheim

TUNDRA

Not just quiet
but absorbed sound

Where escaped noise
is instantly gone
replaced
by looming silhouettes
in secret vales
where dark owls prowl
and running children stumble

Here at night
I sleep with you
inside ice houses
on frozen desert lakes
and every day
when my work is finished
I crave your warmth
and race the hunters home on bare feet
arriving bloodied to the knees

Last night
I summoned herds of caribou
with one hollow vowel

They flocked around me
impatient
wild eyed
before bowing to you

Until the whale rose
scattering their tribute
with the groans of fracturing ice
on which we stood

Exhaling slowly
the giant held me
with one fathomless eye
and carried you
into silence

FJP Langheim majored in English and zoology, conducted radiological research, and studied bacterial behavior. He taught English and German in Italy, conducted neuroimaging research on schizophrenia, published scientific papers and has lectured on the poetry of science. In residency, he studied consciousness and sleep. He practices psychiatry and plays bass in an outlaw country band. His poetry has appeared in Academic Psychiatry, Nature’s Echoes, The NIH Catalyst, various anthologies, and Measure: a Review of Formal Poetry.