A Moment Poem by J.L. Nash

On the clock face, on the number four, rests two flies fucking
Their movements so tiny to be imperceptible

An eyeball moves upward, sweat accumulates between the lashes on the lower lid
A scintilla of light catches the iris

John told the boy that he used to collect human tears before he lost his sight
Now he touches faces weeping at the loss

I ask my father for photographs of him so I can picture his face when I am far from home
He gives me two brain scans

My friend has cancer and continues to smile when she sees me
Her skin no longer invaded by darkness

At night I wake to check if my lover is still beside me so quiet he sleeps
The nightlight is a blue yacht

The transience the suntans the shallowness of deep water adventures
Leaves holes in conversations

The out of order telephone provided an unfamiliar sense of isolation
Even on an atoll in the middle of the Pacific

A trigger fish loses its way, stunned by cyanide, there are no traces to follow
The coral beneath begins to crumble

The new order of management at a local community college begins to fire its teachers
Free thinking and speech has disastrous outcomes

China tries to forget Tiananmen Square and invites the West to see its growth
Confident the Rooster motif never-the-less shows profit

Personal gain was never his driving force until he lost his home his job
Survival surprisingly steered towards compassion

Humility took me over one day when I had no ego no agenda no expectations
A sense of peace passed over mind and body

The need to dominate takes over her mind until she can no longer view the horizon
Lies feed her tongue until it loses its edge

They smuggled a chameleon into the country but they kept it in a cage and it died
There were not enough flies to eat