FEATURED: Instruction on Lasting and Other Poems

by Jenna Wysong Filbrun

INSTRUCTION ON LASTING

There are days hope

only aches in my throat

and takes me out to pace

among the towering trees

in the tender grass.

The trill of presence

passes through the mouths

of tree frogs and the beaks of birds.

The morning sun carries joy into the day.

The trees reach their stark arms

into the stream of it.

A deer crunches through the brush

in the cloud of her breath.

She steps staccato,

then bounds the field in silent flight.

A dandelion orb glows with frost in the light

to fill the mouth of the finch

who comes to gather its seeds

in a beak bouquet of cotton.

I want to soften like a seed

in the earth, twine like a root

in the ground, reach like a vine,

turn like a leaf, break

into oneness like an old tree.

I want the world

to change

me.

DEAD WEIGHT?

Where the prayers were,

is an emptiness that swallows.

Under that, a fire.

Then a heavy stone

I carry everywhere.

Ascending the mountain,

hummingbirds zing

to the stone’s flame-red hue

the way they hover

before each fiery fold

of the paintbrush petals

to drink.

The red-orange flower blooms

among the rocks on the hill

and does not need to feel anything

to know what is true.

PILEATED WOODPECKERS

Brown grass half-buried

in white cloud.

Moon slinking through sky

inching toward blue.

Tree tips just turning

orange and red, still

as dancers on stage

before the music starts.

A shrill rattle erupts

eerie over the fog,

like the deep clench

of loneliness

spoken out loud.

And listen.

Across the field,

loneliness answers.

JENNA WYSONG FILBRUN

Jenna Wysong Filbrun is the author of the poetry collection, Away (Finishing Line Press, 2023).  Her poems have been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net and have appeared in publications such as The Dewdrop, Gyroscope Review, Wild Roof Journal, and others.  She writes poetry as a form of prayer and connection. Jenna also loves to spend time at home and in the wild with her husband, Mike, and their dogs, Oliver and Lewis. 

You can find Jenna on Instagram @jwfilbrun or visit her website.