By Kathleen Lee
Featured Art: “Thinking Words” by Thad DeVassie

Nothing quite like the feel
of pen in hand moving across paper,
letters and words following like ducks
slipping into water. Back and forth,
margin to margin, emptying
please, my mind. The whole raucous mess:
complaints, general; also issues,
first with one person then another,
some, it’s true, already dead,
also, my self, hapless on the witness stand
wondering how it’s come to this. Until
at last, the relief. Darkness cleared,
the world flares: man with his dog
draped across his shoulders
ordering a triple espresso,
whiff of patchouli, barista calling,
Fern! Iced latte.

---

Kathleen Lee is editor of Blue Edge Books (www.bluedgebooks.com), a small poetry press.