strength
by Jay Besemer
watch what happens when the hidden things emerge & the
known things subside & what’s called strength evolves from a
colony of bad ideas well-publicized & given the weight of truth
everybody’s purple unicorn of validation going unloved
in the process
well there are many outcomes but one secret
benefit of failure is to become a new kind of
being
& to live this being with all the scarlet in you & to
know & love each cell of your blood & to
let your body be & have a home where everything matters
each element matters & your body can be trusted to be your body
& that is strength
deer
by Jay Besemer
forage along hedgerows hands held in cups
beneath seed heads think deer-memories
the child bedding down in a nest of poison ivy
what a dream the skin becomes inflamed with
sap & truths from unexpected sources waking
to a day riddled with odd light shining in corners
there was a tornado with ball lightning in the house
of the deer-child what space does this phenomenon
take up an exaggerated electrical pulse both in &
outside the brain some neuron or other firing
ball lightning passes through walls foraging like a deer
or a human having needs
glamour
by Jay Besemer
my horse code oscillates within demands
for making sense i make supper instead coffee
some ungenerous notes distractions
the glamour in the air butterflies home in on
my emanations surround me oh wow
there’s a horse here too a sick man tied
to the saddle rides hard for the hospital in the hills
a cluster of rocks the horse knows it is
a doorway between moments
where you hang your hat is your heart
& the understanding that follows you night
after night is also the glamour shining
your moon as you put your toes down
the glamour that holds you as you breathe
holds you on the horse you love