I Untitled (revised)

 

the meaning of you

your world

or any other thing

or world

is easy enough to find

they say search high and low

maybe carry a ladder if you choose to go

a shovel if you will

yet no need to climb or crawl or dig

hidden in the open by children for you to see

meaning is almost always in the in-between

like an island flooded

a blizzard of lashing waves

the agony the scream between river and surging sea

this is where you will likely find

the why of I

and the who

of me

JPPestana

I Untitled

1.29.2022

The Sofa

burgundy I think

soft hugely inhuman cushions faded

stained with holes and tears

it was left the sofa burgundy I speak of

in a somewhat sunny spot by the side of

a way out of way country road close

to the mottled shade of osage honey locust willow

decorated with blossoms oranges green morning dew

it sits by itself 

trapped in a raptor's fixed stare

was I then sitting alone frozen in time

comfortably inhuman

holding the sky in one hand

a book of cloud in the other

and wondering

where now

to put

the

sun

JPPestana

The Sofa

1.26.2022

1Jill Pestana

 Two Towns

chickens thin barely scratch at 

a grassless yard

its migrant shack on last legs toils on for no reason

leans into the cotton wind off exhausted fields 

down the road the tilted graves iron rails rusted sign 

are resigned to the dateless death of the place 

there is no now in the granite and slate

on what remains of main street 

the queen of two towns still reigns

shows herself at the one light blinking

her ghostly so with a tiny sign held up to 

the too few cars

the circus was here in '66 

she rode in sequins stood astride two dappled grays

she was the Queen of Arabia famous 

in a losing one ring circus 

she stayed became a wife married 

to hard times

shamelessly the clowns went on being clowns

two towns merged  to one

then a nameless none

america

 

JPPestana

Two Towns

1.26.2022

 

 

 

  Supposing

what thunder urgently murmurs

can be heard clearly enough with ears emphatically

summer brings sweet relief in sweeter songs

bees sip nectar easily and swiftly

bees continue thankfully to be bees

flowers sway playfully tell their all in breezy gossip

the sun never neglected sits heavily fat even

and glaring on the thick arm of branch in

an oak of some note

lyrics carved in bark are unsung but seen

the tree appears to hum harmlessly along with all of this 

a unremarkable man walks by talking talking

misses it all

a panting dog barkless follows

and this becomes more

than this 

supposing

 

JPPestana

Supposing

1.25.2022

 Flying Into the Sun

it only takes one thing 

one song to sing

to create this heart

history is glorious the songman says

to no one in particular

looking back at the accidental start

hand in hand they feel the pleasure

of its first easy beats

pulsing waves of raven taken from the ages

from some other poem playfully celebrate in 

the only way

they know

JPPestana

Flying Into the Sun

2..2.2022

 

 

 The King of Nothing

rescue me

the raging tower in burning air rises

in its bleeding mist

in their purity

white birds in white wind soar

swan move slowly in the moat reflecting

from the lone window a clouded face an image

 

sinking struggling below the surface

held against my will 

held only by myself 

the trumpets blare

the herald shouts in his loudest voice

the kingdom shudders

all bow hail to the king

of nothing

JPPestana

The King of Nothing

1.23.2022

 The Wobble

steady now muldoon

the lonely in you slides pitches perilously

from side to side 

it is an endless wave rolling across

an endlessly troubled sea 

enter this place with its slick decks with warning

untethered desperately unsure you search

to find your footing

the dark waters are faithless

deprived of moonlight you are at its blackest

and the between in you is as elusive 

as it can ever be ever

save your mistakes for another day 

today you must be perfection 

a king of nothing

but master of the wobble

whatever it may choose

to be

JPPestana

The Wobble

1.22.2022

 

 

 

 

Beginnings

 

in the end

the very blue of sky 

is you

in the end

the starry first rays 

of the new light of day

are you

in the end

when the end

is all there is

you will be my life

beginning 

 

JPPestana

1.22.2022

Beginnings

 

 

 

One And The Same

 is this close away the same

beech (three) slightly apart stand weakly watch

proudly mark her place on rough icy ground

strutting crow (too many to count) engage stare gather ahead

argue for whatever their murderous reasons

no one seems to know

there is something here she says

searching in the very circles of her 

do you see she asks without speaking

unknowing he nods only seeing crow 

unmistakably being 

crow

JPPestana

1.21.2022

The Same

this morning by accident purely by

I single handedly caught the moon 

not that it needed catching or wanted catching or even cared

one way or the other

and just to be clear no one elected me to be moon catcher  

it wasn't elusive there was no net or chase or struggle or pain

no moon was injured in this process

it was in its normal place sitting in it's normal window cozily but

oddly surrounded by a circle of fuzzy cloud

or something very much like fuzzy cloud or cotton gauze

or maybe more like space dust or some lost skim milky way

I just don't know 

not quite in focus it obscured the moon and then 

the moon mystifyingly became pearl luminescent larger than life lost from some celestial necklace  sliding from the thin neck blush of a delicate star

leaving an indistinct shadow of itself as it faded away slowly into a slowly coming day last bluish shade of night I released it

I expect it will return to the same place tomorrow or close by

unbothered by this or any other 

unlicensed deed by me

or any 

other

JPPestana

Captured

1.20.2022

A Snowflake In Odessa

between these sycamore common and grand

columns rise from the sea

these are not mythical wrathful gods

just giants sleeping in a graying hazy breeze

a voice wishfully speaks to their dead unburied leaves

this eulogy his soft tones go unnoticed

a woman seen in her quietness looks into his eyes

under this undefined and anxious sky

pleading before and after this

day begins and ends

with no witness to bear

he relinquishes himself

snowflake in Odessa

JPPestana

A Snowflake In Odessa

1.18.2022

Above All Else

swing in the wind and dance

of frantic birds leave your soul

on the shelf of cloud there is time

before the storm

if you must be

be the newer man

hands buried deep in earth and clay

spring flowers surprise emerge before their time snow falls begins so softly even softer her words fall lost to snow

a sky squeezed between light and nothing else

is unbelieving it moves among what ghosts survive the sky sighs in relief

clouds leave without a trace

high waters flood over marsh

and road no safe place

for the mass of gulls

backs to the wind

huddled in cold

hard prayer

from the highest branches do hang

dark hearts crimes and spies

it is the vultures roost

the dearest untruth

only the you in

you can know

JPPestana

Above All Else

1.17.2022

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A Sparrow In Maple

is there another way

this locked room is like no other

this thick door a sign a name for loss

hidden from sight it is unknown if

the he even exists

in an aching wind that never ends

cold walls shiver

old snow soot remain in

the trauma vacancy of broken streets below

a body tosses dreamless in deadened sleep

from a window a sparrow in maple barely escapes

flies off into what life

once was

JPPestana

A Sparrow In a Maple

1.15.2022