All That Suffers Is Not Gold By James Diaz

I'm already late for something

the swat houses of light

emptying out in the dark

this oak tree so scarred

along its face

that I can almost see nothing else

and when I think of what all this means 

I think of every run

up the skin

as holding together 

all that would otherwise

overflow into earth

gone, like me on better or worse days

it hardly matters once you've seen

what you've seen

and rubbed your eyes

into bruises

that collected light

in the dark house of their hurt

forgiveness is carrying the fat man uphill

as Cheryl said

and my back is so sore

with all these bodies

almost broken, 

almost completely thrown.

About James Diaz:

James Diaz is the author of This Someone I Call Stranger (Indolent Books, 2018). He is founding Editor of the literary arts & music mag Anti-Heroin Chic. His work has appeared most recently in Occulum, Moonchild Magazine and Philosophical Idiot. He lives in upstate NY and occasionally tweets @diaz_james.