Jason Dean Arnold- Three Poems

Somewhere Blue & Weightless

Into the ground

you disappeared,

leaving only images

of your fragile frame.

Over three decades

You remain

painted unaware.

Your skin drinks

transparent words & little else

by the lake.

In my hands, I try

to hold no weight

& your warm breath

a hymn of unfamiliar language

climbs out of reach.

There was never very much

of you, only the sound

of moving water.

 

Eleanor

Late afternoon sunlight & shadow

dance silently across our wall

to entertain Eleanor.

Her seventeen months smile

chasing their own silhouette.

This diversion won’t last long.

Outside of this room

a thick green swell of swamp pulses
with cicada song & humidity

& every living thing is saturated in sky.

Our Ruins

A charred earth snaps awake 

with each step backwards

against smoldering underbrush. 

Look through these temporary angels.

Forget your given name.

From the sky,

cut paper petals return 

as ash grey butterflies. 

Descending figures,

briefly visible, vanish 

without warning. 

To a home silhouetted by fire

follow torn lines 

through blackened trees.

Breathe

as evening breathes.

Open albums, 

dreaming leaves-

only fragments remain.

We belong to a lifetime

of letting go. 

Bio:
Jason's writing can be found online and in print and a multidisciplinary work (composed for eight musicians and readers) was recently performed at The Museum of Contemporary Art in Jacksonville (MoCA-Jax), Florida. He holds a doctorate in education.