Strange Joy | E J Cousins

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2 mins read

lucidity a single rope     the way 
in which there is no way

detach allow myself a façade    
indistinguishable from change

walk down the block
into the empty morning air 

& here small things
precious     shrinking

     yes?     like interest

two directions suspended 
nothing easier     than choice

pause     holding the pattern     stop 
try to track it     remember     

stop again     think     feel heavier 
now     disappear under     & wait     

bury love     when it pleases     exist     
to let the cleaver down

feel night heavy     as moon     
burn the leaves to ash

mind   full of water     let 
the cleaver down

     yes?     wait     is that     ?

is that sweet?
watching birds     pull away

cross the field     again
space between     memory

& flight     strange joy
return to the world     

open     so much smaller 
than the whole     

push it down     spin     in orbit
gravity moving     fast     

stars pour over      me     brace for 
impact     for some point     of pleasure

some record     in blank space
like stars     like stars     falling

little task     the mind     a boat     
the river     dark     what flood     

     o     what
small & tender passage

E J Cousins lives, teaches, and writes in Denver, CO. Their poems have appeared in, or are forthcoming from, Denver Quarterly, The Laurel Review, Copper Nickel, Bombay Gin, Hobart, The Collapsar, and elsewhere.