“Nothin’ Left to Lose” by Jonas Kyle-Sidell

Past
to past, through
time –

            Something coming, something fading
            from view, but we’ve come
            this far! and my artistic self

earth to eyeball, spinning,

            is fortified and mean; so let’s dance
            in the footprints, by the ever-loving

a countenance frozen
in a large body of water, smeared
visions:

            fire, this is our chance

dusty moments, sunsets, this poem

            to take it all back. . .

helps me breathe. To the hummingbird truth, moonsuit
body, and the submarine spine; I go blind,

            Stay tuned

and need to work my ass off
‘til my skin
finds salt, again, and my mind

            for a stunning clarity –

fills up
with its own absence.


Jonas has had poems published in the L.A. Review, Gargoyle, Pearl, Haight Ashbury Literary Journal, Main Street Rag, The Melancholy Dane, Paradigm, Welter, and Smile Hon! You're in Baltimore. He is currently an adjunct English teacher at the Community College of Baltimore County. He's got more where this came from.