Ignis Fatuus

Ignis Fatuus Phillip B. Williams (bio) He is one of many points of light that seem, at first, distant enough to lead me away from my loneliness, and towardthe flourish-stillness-flourish of the heart when told imitate the varied stars that have failed to guide us; now imitate everythingbeneath the stars. But who is he? Phantom, filament at its brightest before blowing out, pattern made pattern because it was broken like a heart can never be but say it anyway? None of those. Deceit had a simpler face: violet all around, every hemisphere familiar until turned. The stars and what lied beneath them have fled, spectral. What littlelight poked through the branches has led you here. Lie down. I’vetried to be kind to you by keeping the sharpest instrument to myself. [End Page 498] Phillip B. Williams PHILLIP B. WILLIAMS, a native of Chicago, IL, is a candidate for the MFA in creative writing at Washington University in St. Louis, where he is a Chancellor’s Graduate Fellow. He is author of two chapbooks, Bruised Gospels (Arts in Bloom, Inc.) and Burn (YesYes Books), as well as poems in a number of journals, including Kenyon Review, The Southern Review, Painted Bride Quarterly, and Callaloo. He is the poetry editor of Vinyl, an online journal. Copyright © 2014 The Johns Hopkins University Press

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