For the Beloved Dead of Delaware
that nearly full moon
those stars
the clouds
wave over the sky
over the ocean
I got lost freezing
my mind grabbing this image
transposing it to Van Gogh
Starry Night Over the Rhone
Vincent, in your paintings
I see every atom, every vibration
all the spaces between matter
in the course simplicity of a brush stroke
you saw too much of the world
I say I see too much of the world
tonight, all this useless beauty
is too damn much
I park myself in a bar
try to wring all the noise out of the world
a tolerable level to sleep
a tolerable change in the weather
I greet the sunrise anticlimactic
on the dunes I’ll run into a woman
who says, the clouds won this one
today I know north and west roads
will get me home, although
I don’t know what order
I pick them at random
today the silhouettes of black birds
drain from one tree, then another
today raptors police the sky
today every church is one room
full, quaint, maybe a steeple
to reach for the sky
I wanna stop
I wanna look in
listen to flat note hymns
I wanna hear some homily
about wrapping the new year
in jesus
the cemeteries here are frozen today
still in the same way they were consecrated
further proof all we leave the world with
is a stone and a handful of bones
Jason Baldinger
is a poet hailing from Pittsburgh and recently finished a stint as writer in residence at the Osage Arts Community. He’s the author of several books, the most recent are This Useless Beauty (Alien Buddha Press), The Ugly Side of the Lake (Night Ballet Press) written with John Dorsey and the chaplet Fumbles Revelations (Grackle and Crow) which are available now. The collection Fragments of a Rainy Season (Six Gallery Press) and the split book with James Benger Little Fires Hiding (Spartan Press) are forthcoming. Recent publications include the Low Ghost Anthology Unconditional Surrender, The Dope Fiend Daily, Uppagus, Lilliput Review, Rusty Truck, Dirtbag Review, In Between Hangovers, Your One Phone Call, Winedrunk Sidewalk, Anti-Heroin Chic, Nerve Cowboy Concrete Meat Press, Zombie Logic Press, Ramingo’s Porch, Blue Mountain Review, Red Fez, Blue Hour Review and Heartland! Poetry of Love, Solidarity and Resistance. You can hear Jason read poems on recent and forthcoming releases by Theremonster and Sub Pop Recording artist The Gotobeds as well as at jasonbaldinger.bandcamp.com