Walking wide-eyed, the child drops
to his knees, for the stream is all around
and flowing. He lifts the rock, the water
slurping its way beneath with thirsty relief,
washing cool the inhabitants who sigh
and tumble forth with amazing heads.
He catches some, damaging severely
with no cruelty, no knowing; he wants
them as they are to be wanted and no other.
He catches some more, now preciously aware,
glisteningly upheld. Satisfied, he stands.
Reaching the offered end of his journey
he marvels: I heard your call. I am here.
I will lift your rocks, pull back your bushes;
slide down your waterfalls, build me a dam.
I will return at night and stare into your eyes.
(Your warm spot is not yours; this I know.
You live by the fact of the sun; this I know.)
I will hear you move in the midnight water,
far from my touch—O magic discovering
of wondrous field, seemingly excellent,
perfect, and untouched!—I prefer my hand
in your side.

Selected byRaymond Hufffman
Image credit:Lauren Griffiths

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, 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, Blink-Ink, Blood and Bourbon, Blognostics, Blueline Magazine, Blue Crow Magazine, Blue Earth Review, Blue Unicorn, Bohemia, BOMBFIRE, Bop Dead City, Bottle Rockets Press, The Broadkill Review, Cause & Effect, Cavity Magazine, The Cerurove, 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, Crow Toes Quarterly, The Cryptonaturalist, Curbside Splendor Publishing, The Current, Dead Snakes, Defenestration, The Delinquent, DIAGRAM, 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: Illustrated Poetry Anthology, 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, 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, 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, Other Poetry, Otoliths, Owen Wister Review, Oyez Review, The Panhandler, Paper Wasp, Pembroke Magazine, Penwood Review, Petite Hound Press, Petrichor Machine, 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, Star 82 Review, Steel Toe Review, Stephen A. Dibiase Poetry Contest, Stickman Review, Steam Ticket, Steel Toe Review, Stickman Review, Strange Poetry, Stray Dog, Stymie, Sublunary Review, SugarSugarSalt Magazine, Survision Magazine, Temenos, Thema, 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, The Writer’s Circle Anthology Series, The Wondrous Real, Yellow Silk, Yemassee, Zymbol

 

 

He has also made poetry videos with Michael Dickes, Marc Neys, Jutta Pryor & Marie Craven,

 https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/kind-surgery-matt-dennison/1135926181

 https://mainstreetragbookstore.com/product/waiting-for-better-matt-dennison/

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100008709036240