Sunset, Somewhere
By L.A. Johnson
Feral wind whips waves hard across the shore
invisible pressure seeing doesn’t matter
the terror is in the touch a vase breaks
grass whistles my hair blows into my mouth
a kindling under unbearable California sun.
If the eye could see a hammer drop
glide, bang, smash through the atmosphere
clear as the trails of bees as they float
brutes of the fallow toward pollen
or like ghosts (if you are a ghost
where do you visit tonight?) with missing teeth
swimming in the sky unseen.
The hammer divides air as easy as death
alive and whatever-after torn twins
those little human desires muscle memory
my heart, beating a small song
blood radio that plays all night long:
I am alive why aren’t you here.
Source: Poetry (October 2021)