(Image: detail of Carmel Splash, by Marie Massey)
Still Here
(by Heath Brougher)
Landscape mostly the same
as before, maybe a little
less bright, less full of Life,
however my body
now five years rotted, soaked in
a cup of inertia for that period of time.
Nearly nonexistent,
I am still among these hallowed
places of my youth,
swirling in the vapors of a false start,
left behind, idling,
I’ve done nothing
but wither
in similar fashion
along with the land.
I’ll have to cut ties
with all forms of stasis
in order to feel
this glorious place once again.
Heath Brougher is the poetry editor for Into the Void, winner of the 2017 and
2018 Saboteur Awards for Best Magazine. He is the winner of Taj Mahal Review's
2018 Poet of the Year Award, as well as a multiple nominee for the Pushcart
Prize and Best of the Net Award. He has published nine collections of poetry,
the most recent of which are Bleeding Backwards (Diaphanous Press, 2019)
and Change Your Mind (Alien Buddha Press, 2019).