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These Times

By Austin Veldman
Spring 2021 | Poetry

The morning a trellis I use to climb

into the day, reaching for our only

star, the moon a light in the darkness.

So much celestial light among

the material of us, witnesses to all

we have done. Speak stones, tell us

what sin of man has hardened you so.

The son of Luis returns after months

beyond the border that men have put

in their own hearts. The fifth of May

every day for a family made whole, made

as it always should be. Today, rain

will wash away the dust of our labors

that collects on our idle vehicles. Tomorrow

some storm will remind us all of some

heavenly fury we cannot be sure exists.

How deep goes the light

that let eyes see barbed wire, that warned

of trouble in twin high-beams like

haunted, obsessive eyes. Is it enough

to know that we have done this all

to ourselves? Tomorrow it could be

Mo’s daughter or Pablo’s son. I see this

worry in the lines on their faces. Speak soil,

tell us what the blood of man tastes like.

In some future the light will calm the spirits

of man. In some future, these times are already

something the wise have labeled for the ages.

Austin Veldman is a poet, editor, artist, and songwriter from South Bend, Indiana. His poetry has recently appeared or is forthcoming in Plainsongs, Atlanta Review, Free State Review, Great Lakes Review, Parhelion, and more. He is the Managing Editor of 42 Miles Press and is the founding editor and editor-in-chief of Twyckenham Notes. He holds an MA in English from Indiana University South Bend, where he has taught contemporary poetry. www.austinveldman.com


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