The Unintended

to begin

it is an inevitability

that the sun shedding angrily will

kill the green pleasure of 

my brilliant hill

its ghost sun quietly circles below

in a dreamy caressing whiteness of its own

I become an unintended dreamer

ducks suddenly skyrocket from a puddle 

of a pond 

I am caught up in a vicious glare

of my own doing

they curve away drop from me

their furiously beating wings

begin and end in seconds 

from one side of the road

to the other 

they glide

to another pond

no bigger than

the other 

yet

no less

essential

 

 JPPestana

The Unintended

2.25.2022

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Middletowns

these towns always found in the middle

too many to name or claim as mine 

are they really in the middle I mean

kind of 

sort of 

more-or-less 

closer than not 

not exactly 

don't know 

 don't care

maybe 

I am thankful for always being in 

the middle of somewhere 

where doesn't particularly matter to me

middle-of-the-road 

middle america 

middle class 

middle seat

maybe not middle seat

rarely do I ask if this was a decision to name

based solely on equal distance from one something or place 

to another something or place or was it just simpler to say

we are in the middle of here and there and 

we are a town 

so why not 

middletown

 The Miner

he faces

the daunting wall of 

solid rock

deep veins 

with pick chisel hammer 

and curse

he longingly hums a mother's song

again 

again 

again

a dim lantern flickers 

entices the shadows

sweat pours 

blistered and calloused hands incredibly still bleed

the salt in his eyes clouds burns

a blinding wiped away with

every strike of hope

luck 

word 

and

rhyme

JPPestana

The Miner

2.24.2022

Riverside By the Fire (revised

Riverside By the Fire

off the river

an ever bitter cold

it is always the same

some say the remains of

an unsurrendering winter

impossible to ignore wish or

pray away

standing in a room of worn eyes

nervous chatter mourns the person

the bouquet whispers

its heavenly oath promises they will be again

your eyes wander

you alone wonder where all

the men have gone

what do they know that you don't

are they being held against their will

or just killed off by boredom

work or god

here the women bow longer

to their own losses

their haunting sorrows are their shallow graves

left unattended there are no tearful prayers

no angelic choir cries

of hallelujah

you feel only the eternal cold

seeping bitterly

deep within

their quieted but

ever troubled

hearts

 

JPPestana

Riverside By the Fire

JPPestana

Riverside By the Fire

2.23.2022

 

Riverside By the Fire

off the river there is an ever bitter cold 

it is always the same  the remains of

an unrelenting presence an eternal call

you cannot shout down  pray away 

standing in a room of eyes mourning nervous chatter

the ashes are still warm in the nicely figured 

well oiled wood

the bouquet whispers its heavenly oath 

your eyes wander 

you alone wonder where all 

the men have gone 

what do they know that you don't 

are they being held against their will

or just killed off by boredom sport 

work or god 

here the women bow longer 

to their own losses 

their haunting sorrows are their shallow graves 

left unattended there are no tearful prayers  

no angel choir cries 

of hallelujah 

you feel only the outside cold

seeping bitterly 

deep within 

their quieted

but troubled

hearts

JPPestana

Riverside By the Fire

2.23.2022

surely it was there

all along

2.22.22

you are barely a clear day 

yesterday's same light wind 

carries hungry robins to country lawns

they know you from when 

dead trees creekside 

lean into each other

one falls exhausted 

shatters the air

the air smells of old dirt decay

a horse terrified runs

from the spooking screams

of tuesday's naked farm boys 

their flailing arms skinny legs

giving out on a long yard

their winter race won

 in a laughing shivering sky

cursing 

blue with

cold

JPPestana

2.22.22

 

 

The Crush

if only you will agree to lead me 

to the rushing river of

my disbelieving senses

they betray me too often

fail me leave me in rapids gasping

grasping for shadows of you that fall

to the precious lake below 

the 

shadow-

falls

crushing boulder 

to jewel

holding me under in 

wonder of the image 

of things

to come

JPPestana

The Crush

2.21.2022