On Cessation

Press Play to hear the author read his piece.

A crow clinging to a reed stabs
at little fish. The lake holds
its setting sun a moment longer
than the horizon. Mosquitoes prick
what bleeds. A timed fountain
ceases plashing and violet evening descends.
This moment of fading day,
after all the returning cars stop ticking,
waits, suspended. The turn of a breath, from inhale
to exhale, a moment of stillness before the blow.
No sutra, surah, or psalm. No meditation. No prayer.

Robert Annis received his MFA from the University of South Florida where he works as an Advisor. He was nominated for the 2013 and 2014 AWP Intro Journals Project, won the Bettye Newman Poetry Award in 2014, and the Estelle J. Zbar Poetry Prize in 2015. His poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in Exit 7, Atlas Poetica, Lynx, Gusts, American Tanka, Foothill, and Oracle.

 … return to Issue 8.2 Table of Contents.