joel preston west

I went to first grade in this classroom.

From the damp grass
silhouettes of cattails
stretch above fir and oak
also black, tucked neatly
beneath pastel brushstrokes
of a nearly summer sky
on a nearly quiet night.
Only the rustle and call
of unseen creatures,
voices that without intention
craft ballads to green grass
and lingering daywarmth.
Above
the leathery whisper
of a bat’s wings
seems touchable,
hovering terrifically close
to where we lay with head in hands
and hands in [...]

We were up and around, but the day had not officially started. The thin dawnclouds still slept low over our street and even lower over the city, and the soggy light from half-open blinds was unflattering on the scratches in our wood floor and the misplaced objects on the furniture. Sounds of footsteps, sinks, [...]

Velodrome at Morley Field, San Diego.  Photo by Stephanie.

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But I sort of choked up for a second on the way to work. Just a quick gasp and a hard swallow out of nowhere. An old song I remember listening to on the way home from Mammoth when I was younger than I realized at the time, on a pink 395 evening, the [...]

this is the closest thing to truth that i have ever seen