James Ross Kelly lives in Northern California next to the Sacramento River. Mr. Kelly was a long-time resident of Southern Oregon where he grew up. This poem will be published in his new book of poems Black Ice and Fire by Uncollected Press in 2020. Additionally, And the Fires We Talked About published by Uncollected Press in 2020 is Mr. Kelly’s first book of fiction. View all posts by James Ross Kelly Published May 22, 2020
fools on a spree
six-packs underarms
waving at deodorized
fumes of unreason
before the surf was up
lost long before they
were found between sausages
hamburgers and the
necessity of a mortgage
to come home to
filleted and floundered
between fishing boats
and the fuel of the barge
flipping end overend on
what was to be
the flotsam and jetsam
of what cannot live
in the terrible sound of
creation and beauty
in cataclysmic mandate
as water arcing over league
upon league roll over roll
fathom upon depth naming
an unforgiving–”You!”
@the beer tipping
realization of the mistake
about the smallness of what
was thought to ought to be
St. John One: One 