Photography © Jennifer Matthews

 

Anointed

Across your back,
a golden condor with wings

on fire and jeweled eyes staring
into space

as though searching
for God. Your right arm inked with

faces I don’t recognize, all done
in red and the eyes crossed

out with little x’s to match the
crosshatching of puckered

scars on your left arm. Back and
arms and the way you exhale

with eyes closed, taking me
on a journey for the rest

of a life I never intended to share.
And even afterwards when

everyone we ever knew has
forgotten our names and that we

both tried hard to smile. On a nuclear
afternoon when we burn with the

wrong kind of thoughts and wade
in a bright river of steam. When

you say there’s no better time
than now. As our breath goes

sideways, melting us from the
inside just because it can.

 

Joel Best is an artist and poet living in upstate New York. An interesting bit of trivia about him is that he once slept in the same room as a moon rock brought back to Earth by Apollo 11.

Poet/Photographer Jennifer Matthews’ poetry has been published in Nepal by Pen Himalaya and locally by the Wilderness Retreat Writers Organization, Midway Journal, The Somerville Times, Ibbetson Street Press and Boston Girl Guide. Jennifer was nominated for a poetry award by the Cambridge Arts Council for her book of poetry Fairy Tales and Misdemeanors. Her songs have been released nationally and internationally and her photography has been used as covers for a number of Ibbetson Street Press poetry books and has been exhibited at The Middle East Restaurant, 1369 Coffeehouses, Sound Bites Restaurant in Somerville and McLean Hospital.