jd-dehart-poems | Militant Thistles

J.D. DeHart

Patchwork Rainbow

This moment is the one

where we know there is a connection point,

a constellation of experience.

One must simply connect the dots,

appreciating the nuances of shade.

No one can be put on pillars anymore,

the truth always comes out,

the messiah figure with the drug problem.

Today’s crime is an expression

of yesterday’s common practice

and the time words became crazy,

life coming in sudden manic motions,

can be traced back like heritage

to the unkind words of a father

or the sullen face of a stranger,

a harsh word wandering like a stray cat.

When the rainbow showed up, the stories

say it was a promise, but that was images

and eons ago. That was at least two

legends removed from certainty.

Now the main character in the story

has begun to suspect his plight as a picaresque

plot-plodding figment and he knows

the last page approaches,

a cliff on cleverly bound paper.

The narrative can no longer be trusted,

just like patchwork, like a quilt language,

or the way light moves faster, blending colors,

Joyce saying, Let’s do something new.

J.D. DeHart is a writer and teacher. He makes his home in the United States. DeHart is the author of the poetry collection, The Truth About Snails, which was published in 2014 by Red Dashboard and is available on Amazon. His poetry has also appeared at Leaves of Ink, The Poet Community, Visual Verse, and a variety of other sites. DeHart has published short stories and some nonfiction, as well. Currently, more work can be found at http://jddehartfeaturepoems.blogspot.com/.

Under-Statements

There is a conversation here

I am not aware of, a group of words clustering,

looking for a new home

There is a meaning hidden, like a child

playing a game, tucked inside a line,

a Derrida-like violence to language

What I have said is what I have said

but then that word passes through the mind

and like a prism, bends the light

And what we are left with

is the best we can do to love each other