Without 

this persistent bark

scorch of burnt air 

strains a landscape of 

gray rock and 

old hearts 

scorned

invades this  

rhymeless 

and  

reasonless

place

a sun unrecognizable

broken too long ago to matter

 is gravel

and dust 

swirls about

in a cloud 

of doubt

without

JPPestana

Without3.

3.28.2022

 

It Happens

 

what brings you to me

of all people 

you say you happen to be

in the neighborhood

aloneness comforts me more

than any company

you wish to visit over tea biscuits

impress me with your interest in

all things japanese

sharing then you are like a tiny sea 

caught in the screaming violence

of two competing winds

useless contradictions

arriving you are a colder stranger than imagined

unsmiling unshaven holding a warm beer

out of nowhere you say

a heron great stands in a shallow pool

is the origin of her impossible stillness

an egret passing in front

of a blazing feathered sun becomes

her wondrous invisibility

you then announce the yellow moon has shed

its skin for the first time in the history

of man

you demand I look harder

and see the obvious

I see only blackness upon 

more blackness

he says be damned 

it is miraculous

the heron reflects on this

leans imperceptibly

in its rippled wings

an egret landing delicately

black legs whispering down into low reeds

I wading ever so slowly 

 into the skin of

the now

yellow

glowing

pool

 

JPPestana

It Happens

3.27.2022

 Hollyhocks

she is a wish completed in time

early spring surprises the lion

and the lamb 

coffee fresh with light cream

a cheek's soft kiss

a wish for

hollyhocks

blossoming

before 

their 

time

JPPestana

Hollyhocks

3.25.2022

 

Fourth

a window stares opens to 

a mass of swallows 

frantically they tear away at the air

in no small way they become one 

join with the unnamed man 

on a slight hill in 

a slight of cloud

the woman waiting in the window looks out pleads 

her tears fall to lake mistaken for rain

gentle in wind on petal on leaf on blade 

of blue grass 

her lover has been lost  

she fears for his being 

safe return  

rumors of great cruelties 

mysterious disappearances persist

she barely eats 

her heart hammers pounds 

her meal bleeds before her

she excuses herself

steps from the window 

a weightless cry silk in 

the imagined catch of 

her lover's opened arms

the air cleansed

clears the whine

and cry of

swallows 

bodies 

of 

their

devoured 

clouds

 JPPestana

3.22.2022

Fourth

 White Blossoms

girl 

what do you see from here

songbirds appear from nowhere 

then hidden from me sleeping

your voice is a stillness still captive

held in some distant vacant space

if the earth around you blurs with sky 

glistens into melded silver chrome 

what do you intend to do about it

you listen in ear to the ground 

breath deeply in the gleam

of dogwood blossoms

miles from you one minor orphaned tree

clings to the edge of a busy old road 

feeling the jolt of time

you're spun around

dizzyingly dropped to knees 

buried in white 

blossoms

JPPestana

White Blossoms

3.21.2022

 

Death Of Deaths

this is her death

of deaths

the last choir has gathered sang the anthems

of her life with much passion

the melodies she hummed in the meadows

with her flowers and birds

unsuspecting bees

unexpectedly the sun caught in a crush of

angriest clouds vanishes

leaves her without the joking flirtations

of shadowy figures

nameless friends

a cat indifferently crosses its own path

no one seems to know what it means

angels visit chat among themselves

say things that only angels can imagine

they leave in a thundering drum

there are rumors she loved but went unloved

the unloving testify mightily for their goodness

this is her death of deaths

the heavens may open for her

no one is certain about the gates

holy bells toll in her old movies

images of mourners flickering weep in darkened churches

anoint themselves in their almost hugs

solemn airs 

warmest remembrances  

of themselves

JPPestana

Death Of Deaths

3.19.2022

1Jill Pestana

 

A Lonelier Summer

 

did I believe I knew

all the you of you

even the you you

left in pieces

carelessly strewn

about in our short history

of weakened embraces

summer is lonelier now

the slow rock

of pine sun

never stops to

ask why

gulls over me hover far from any sea

and the want of you

still sounds

in the back

and forth

echo of

 hollow

trembling 

limbs

JPPestana

A Lonelier Summer

3.17.2022