You wanted to talk to me about what it means
to achieve expertise the mystery of it
the suffering involved it took the whole
summer you said and I laughed knowing
what I know but a cloud was passing over
somewhere above my left shoulder and I
understood that it should not be me who stole
your light and so we walked together along
the stony footpath that led us gradually into
the highest parts of these hills and during
this walk a new version of you emerged
more elevated than before and not just in
a physical sense the owner of new levels
of potential a simple machine targeted to
simple achievements leaving behind a skin
that you shed while I was failing to pay attention
we were too high for flowers to grow there
upon the rocky brow nearer to the source than
to the flood although we know they both are
connected and we both might drown in your river.
is a British/American poet, the author of several published chapbooks, and an occasional songwriter who lives with his partner in Lambertville, New Jersey. His work has appeared in many journals, among them Book of Matches, Clackamas Literary Review, Impspired, Iron Horse Literary Review, Louisiana Literature, Sleet Magazine, Tampa Review, The Inflectionist Review, and The Night Heron Barks. His first album, Meeting Points, was released in 2021.
