The Declaration & Other Poems
The Declaration
Upon the thick line,
A soft, nimble foot,
Digging its heel
in the imagined etch
And within all estrangements,
a dissonant hand,
Sinking its nails
into the gypsum
For in the stillness of Shapes,
One must declare:
To shake and to shift
until nothing is left!
To Support
Nude below a spigot,
you are redeeming
your Mile-hair,
lathering with my blood
and delicately rinsing
There, dazed placid,
you clutch the crusts
of my briny sweat,
Exfoliate your face
for plushness uncompared
And glistening divine,
my vialed tears appear
to spill among your skins:
Covers endless curves
in strength and defense
You live in Pristine
to contrast my Sully —
Some steaming difference
we gladly accept,
and I swear to ooze for
until lying bone-dry
Perpetual Rite
Please know the world
is so old:
She spits dust and spews bile,
grows wrinkled by the hour,
Drags cataract storms
over once-calm towns —
Turns greyer each day
(by choice or by force,)
and begs Her pathogens
to prize what is left
So as perpetual Rite,
do as She says —
Live sweet and tender
however you can;
For bones have been swallowed
for many a time,
but still will She try
as long as she can
At the Garden
Today, we make attempts
to thwart off bony wolves,
to unperch our crooked crows,
To stifle craving cries
but clutch a thorny rose
Yet I know what will happen
is that those mutts must starve,
that the trees must be felled,
That the analysts must come
and pull us from the garden…
So for now, we are sitting:
Gnawed to the bone
with beady-eyed watchers,
Vinous and whining
for the things that must be
Disaster
Late October: Lifeless homes,
Hurricane in a land of Gardens;
Pianos were dragged out
by some swollen banks
To play the key of Sea
[Forcefully]
Contributor
Edward Hemstreet
Edward Hemstreet is a surfacing writer from New Jersey; his works are featured or forthcoming in Roanoke Review, Visitant, and The Write Launch, among others. When not writing, he may be found drinking uncomfortable amounts of tea.