The boy in the labyrinth opens one more door. One more doctored space in the space of the now. On the floor, he sees bottles, bones, a stoppered flask. He sees cracked earthen ware and the smudge of char on the wall. On and on, beyond the door are other doors–a farthering off like that trick of mirrors. One mirror held up to another opening into mirrors inside the mirror. Each image lacerates time. Makes the space of residency an object. His eyes adjust to the multiplicity and he sees the beast’s sleeping face. He hears its face breathe in deep tendrils of myth.
Oliver de la Paz is the author of four books of poetry: Names Above Houses, Furious Lullaby, Requiem for the Orchard, and Post Subject: A Fable. He co-edited A Face to Meet the Faces: An Anthology of Contemporary Persona Poems, and co-chairs Kundiman’s advisory board. He teaches in the MFA program at Western Washington University.