Poems by Jake Berry

THE SIGNS 

nightshade
tomato

mandrake
lake bardo

years gone by
beneath the willows

the altar stone
light and feathers

take this cup
please remember

a flickering sign
leaks elixir

gone to seed
corn and thistle

your mission here
the embers whisper

paradise
is a motion

a simple face
lost in gazing


BORDERLANDS

He sat on the couch
and laughed like a man child

Mama said when he was a boy
Daddy tossed him up
and his head hit the ceiling fan

Now he listens to his Daddy’s
ruined jokes and laughs
like a chained dog barking

lighting in filagree
access the northern clouds

He stutters when he speaks
to echo the thunder


HYPOSTASIS

A promise

A priesthood
of the void

from which
all things flow

To be broken
in plain sight

to hear the
call

and answer
with a life

surrendered
into that

forever
opening
question