We all need a little poetry in our lives. Joseph provides that. With both his words and his photographs.
If you're aching for a bit of beauty, subscribe to his Stack. He never disappoints. And I'm not even a poetry person. Happy weekend. -
The Refrain
Beneath morning’s gray, lopsided
ceiling, I grip the air for balance.
Air like glass in fragments—
the frigid drizzle. Walking,
I hold a prayer in mind, not
repeating, but breathing
each word anew.
I pass the lawn
with the dead sunflowers
(their black, caved-in faces)
and tomatoes heavy with rot—
vines sagging toward the sidewalk.
Chalk drawings faded by rain:
mangled stick men
and slogans smeared illegible.
Like the mind without prayer.
Like the mind without prayer
to resolve the shattered sound
of the animal I am.