“hush” by Michael Patrick McSweeney

we let the rocks
just skip themselves
across the shallow
pond so you and I
can point & laugh
at clouds that murmur

from our mouths, that late
night dew in sleeping grass
like long wet conversations
separate from the late night
Friday voices (hundreds)
echo/running down
the dormitory hill
like frenzied drums.

I tell the breeze: I love you--
but, my friend, you'll never truly know.
I'll just hide it deep in words,
poet mouthless/twenty/blind.
the flattened rocks soar/curl & sink
beneath the waveless image of a university
performance hall hugged close to concrete walls,
pathways lined by modern art and student paint
tonight reverberate the birth of broken glass
& drunken students bawling into cell-phones,
some dropping their heels others their eyes/their lives--

so we turn away,
stand close
like new trees do,
& slowly
pack the bowl again,
grinning as we lift
the flame.


Michael Patrick McSweeney is an artist and educator from the Boston region. His work has appeared in numerous journals and various regions of the Internet thanks to truly wonderful individuals. He is also the founder and chief financial officer of a used submarine conglomerate, the business website of which can be found at discountsubmarines.wordpress.com, and he hopes you have a great day.