Loss of Light


she shares every bit of light
lightness with the slightest breeze

she with her summer roses
pale blue hydrangea sings

her leaves are a shimmering gloss
deepest green trees deep
in her summer shadows sway

she moves and all imaginations
move with her

she moves

I strain to
remain
in her 
dimly
fading
image

jppestana
loss of light
7.20.18

Torcido

cascading rains
have washed away the
rutted road
torcido

lightning tore distorted
the night before sky
by morning it had bled blue
the desert air seems the newer for it
ever blue with sky
more sky 

clouds slowly pushed north
by a lone dove may
or may not
return
then a lone
swallow
without
clouds

on the avenida
a spanish man shares his name
for the first time
we agree on names
shake hands
strongly

on camino real
the blossoms trumpet
call at the day
full roses madly color eyes
and the slightest shadow
falls from my cheek
a shadow
no more
torcido

jppestana
torcido
7.12.18

Dead End

secrets told to the barest bones brittle
scream deeply to the crippled lives skeletal 
secrets living in the marrow 
in the core come to be 
become reality
they seal the fate
of the unsuspecting
uncalled they come as dust acidic
thick over undug graves
come to the most innocent 
most unwelcome guests
coming to the end
of all 
ends

jppestana
6.30.18
dead end

Jellyfish

hey darling follow me
the unthinkably long skinny arm
skinnier bonier fingers
of a faceless man point
to nothing in
particular

a heart has been left out (lonely I suppose)
on a stoop on a noisy cranky street
not hidden it beats in plain view for all to see
it beats for no reason other than
to feel its familiar pulsations
to horrify strangers
to please
me

in this desert
tears dry
before they form
sadly they never feel
fall on warmed skin
anticipation of
an anxious
cheek

in this light fluorescence
leaves play their windy games
seem indifferent to the jellyfish
pulsing bells in a gelatinous sky
tentacles stinging at my eyes
my cheeks
my swelling
burning
tears

jppestana
7.3.2018
jellyfish