I turned twenty
in the attic
of a Buddhist
temple

Enraged
by my inability
to move
the hands

Of a cold
watch face
by faith
alone.

*

While meditating
I hope I do not

have a visulation
that demands

I get up to get
my notebook

and write it down.
I get up to get

my notebook
and write this down.

*

Working in a quick-hardening medium
creates many half-truths.

*

Do not circle your words too rapidly.
How could the fish swim through?

*

How to shake
the sky?

How to catch
the truths

that fall
all around?

Like a monkey!

*

Start stepping
fast and
high

How can you
jump on
the train

If you are not
stepping fast
and high?

*

How does a man
move?

inthegroundtrees
know

intheskybirds
know

*

Here I am again
–so I see
–empty or much too full?
of them?
–of them
even the shadows?
–including our own
I see

Where do I look?
–to the left and right
–truth and light
and of them?
–your outer lives
to teach?
–to teach
I see

Once I was
–and how is this?
I owned the night
–say the moon?
say the moon
as the faces grew we shared
–of the clouds?
of the clouds
–I see

Must we numb to feel?
–not of truth
to give?
–not of inner sights
but truth is large
–as is your soul
touching?
–touching
I see

But distance is watching
–as are your thoughts
smiling?
–smiling
I see

And why must we burn?
–it is written
that is not enough
–is what you have done enough?
I see

When will I fly?
–when will you walk?
I see

..

Consider every act a gift.
Give it to yourself.
Lose yourself.
Find yourself.
You will never lose
It.

You have It right now
and cannot see It.
It must be very magical
and powerful.

It is.
It is.
..

You can look
at people
if you want.

You can touch
if you want.

You can say it,
it can be said.

You can do it,
it can be done.

You are you.
You cannot fail at that
can you?
..

You know what
has to be done.
You are doing it.
How do you know
you know
what has to be done
and are doing it?

You know.
That is why you are
doing it.
..

Ask yourself
permission
to do
everything you do
and give it to yourself
until you realize
it has always been
you
you have been
giving it to
and you that has been
giving it.
..

I have always been me
but I have been so busy
being me
that I never
noticed me.

Then I noticed me
being me
so I tried
not to
try and be me
and just
be me.

Isn’t it ridiculous?
I certainly do not
want it.

I stop
being
me.
..

Image credit:Joey Kyber
Matt Dennison

Matt Dennison's poetry and fiction has appeared or is forthcoming in 50 Haikus, 94 Creations, 99 Pine Street, 1870 Poetry, A-Minor Magazine, A Cappella Zoo, Absinthe Poetry Review, Abstract Magazine, The Acorn, Across the Margin, After Happy Hour, After the Pause, Aji Magazine, Akitsu Quarterly, The Alarmist, Alba, Algebra of Owls, Amaryllis, Angry Old Man, Anti-Heroin Chic, Arcadia Magazine, Array, Artful Dodge, As It Ought To Be, The Asses of Parnassus, The Aurorean, Autumn Sky Poetry Daily, Ballast Journal, Barren Magazine, Bayou Magazine, The Battered Suitcase, Beechwood Review, Belle Ombre, Big City Lit, The Big Windows Review, Bindweed Magazine, Black Buzzard Review, Black Heart Magazine, BlazeVOX Online Journal, The Blind Horse Review, Blink-Ink, Blood and Bourbon, Blognostics, Blueline Magazine, Blue Crow Magazine, Blue Earth Review, Blue Unicorn, Bohemia, BOMBFIRE, Bone & Flesh Aside, Bop Dead City, Bottle Rockets Press, The Broadkill Review, Broken Wine, Cause & Effect, Cavity Magazine, The Cerurove, The Charlie “B” Coffeehouse, Chiron Review, Cider Press Review, Clark Street Review, The Coachella Review, Coffeehouse Poets Quarterly, Columbia College Literary Review, Concho River Review, Constellate Literary Review, Controlled Burn, The Collidescope, concīs, Cottonwood Literary Magazine, Counter Punch, Coup d'Etat, Creepy Podcast, Crow Toes Quarterly, The Cryptonaturalist, Curbside Splendor Publishing, The Current, Damn the magazine, Dead Snakes, Defenestration, The Delinquent, DIAGRAM, die leere mitte, Dime Show Review, Diner, Divot: A Journal of Poetry, Dodging the Rain, dotdotdash, Dreich Magazine, The Drunken Llama, Dunes Review, E-Ratio, Ethel Zine, Eunoia Review, Every Pigeon, Exacting Clam, Existere, Eyedrum Periodically, The Fiction Pool, The Field Guide Poetry Magazine, Firewords Quarterly, The Four Faced Liar, Frogpond, G.W. Review, Gargoyle Magazine, Gnarled Oak, The Gorko Gazette, Grasslimb, Grand Little Things, Graveside Press, Great Weather For Media, GUD, Guts Publishing, The G.W. Review, haikuniverse, The Heartland Review, Heliosparrow Poetry Journal, Hiram Poetry Review, Hobo Camp Review, Horror Sleaze Trash, House of Long Shadows, In Between Hangovers, Indefinite Space, Infinite Scroll Magazine, The Inflectionist Review, Innisfree Poetry Journal, Isacoustic, Jabberwock Review, Jersey Devil Press, Juke Joint Magazine, Juked, The Knickknackery, Kudzu, Ligeia Magazine, Liminoid Magazine, Live Nude Poems, Loquacious Placemat, The Lost Poetry Club, Loud Coffee Press, The Louisville Review, The Lumberyard, Lummox Poetry Anthology, Mad Hatters' Review, The MacGuffin, Main Street Rag, Marginalia, The Mas Tequla Review, Matador Review, Matrix Magazine, The Means, Meat for Tea: The Valley Review, Melancholy Hyperbole, The Mas Tequila Review, Merion West, The Metaworker, The Midwest Quarterly, Midwestern Gothic, Milkfist, The Milo Review, Mississippi Crow, Mobius: The Journal of Social Change, The Mochila Review, Modern Haiku, The Monarch Review, Monkey Kettle, Monkey Puzzle Magazine, MONO., Moose & Pussy, Moss Trill Poetry Blog, MSU Libraries Short Edition, Muddy River Poetry Review, Muscle & Blood, The Nassau Review, The National Poetry Review, Natural Bridge, Naugutuck River Review, Nerve Cowboy, Neologism Poetry Journal, Newington Blue Press, The New York Quarterly Magazine, Night Train, Nixes Mate Review, Noble Gas Qtrly, Noon: Journal of the Short Poem, Northwest Indiana Literary Review, The Northwind Writing Award, Obsessed With Pipework, Oddball Magazine, The Old Red Kimono, Olympia Review, One Art: A Journal of Poetry, One Hand Clapping, One Sentence Poems, Octentatious Mind, ‘p[oOther Poetry, Otoliths, Owen Wister Review, Oyez Review, The Panhandler, Paper Wasp, Pembroke Magazine, Penwood Review, Petite Hound Press, Petrichor Machine, The Phantomicon, Pilgrimage, POETiCA Review, The Poetry Bus, Poetry Quarterly, The Portland Review, PØST, Pouch, Prole, Quatrain.Fish, Quarter After Eight, Qwerty Magazine, Rabbit Catastrophe, Rambunctious Review, Random Sample, Rattle, Raw Dog Press, Red Fez, Red Wheelbarrow, Redactions, Red Eft Review, Redivider, Reed Magazine, Riddled With Arrows, The Rising Phoenix Review, The Roanoke Review, Rue Scribe, The Rumen, Runes, The Rusty Truck, The Rye Whiskey Review, Sadwrn, San Pedro River Review, Saranac Review, Satori, Scapegoat Review, Sein und Werden, Sheepshead Review, Short Circuit, Sierra Nevada Review, Slippage Lit, Slipstream, Snow Monkey, Sonic Boom, Sonoma Mandala Literary Review, Soor Ploom Press, Sortes Magazine, Soul-Lit, Soundings East, The Sow’s Ear, Spillway, Spitball, The Spoon River Poetry Review, Sprung Formal, Stanza Cannon, Star 82 Review, Steam Ticket, Steel Toe Review, Stephen A. Dibiase Poetry Contest, Stickman Review, Steel Toe Review, Stickman Review, Still Points Art Quarterly, Strange Poetry, Stray Dog, Stymie, Sublunary Review, The Sun, SugarSugarSalt Magazine, Survision Magazine, Temenos, Thema, Third Lung Review, Third Wednesday, Toucan Review, Trailer Park Quarterly, Tree Killer Ink, Trampoline, Triggerfish Critical Review, Trouvaille Review, Tulane Review, Turbulence, Twelve Mile Review, Two Thirds North, Ubu, The UCity Review, Under the Basho, The Ugly Tree, The Unrorean, Up the Staircase Quarterly, Urtica Lit Blog, Viewfinder Literary Magazine, Vita Brevis Poetry Anthology, Veil: Journal of Darker Musings, Visions International, Waterways, Welter, Whale Road Review, Whiptail: Journal of the Single-Line Poem, Whiskey Island, White Stag Journal, White Wall Review, The Wild Word, The Windless Orchard, Witcraft, The Writer’s Circle Anthology Series, The Wondrous Real, Yellow Silk, Yemassee, Zymbol





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