Poem by Zvi A. Sesling

Night Walk

At night I take a walk with
three dead poets whose ghosts
protect me and teach me

The first, Edgar Allen Poe, tells
me to write about my Annabel Lee
since there is nothing better to write
about than one’s true love

Pablo Neruda, on the other hand, says
it is all about metaphor – she might be
the bright star or the clinging vine, the
sturdy tree or the last sunset

Then Walt Whitman places his transparent
arm around me and says quietly to write about
myself, to worship my body and feel close
to nature, the sick, the poor, however, by now
I am home and they have disappeared

Zvi A. Sesling publishes Muddy River Poetry Review and Muddy River Books. His poems have appeared nationally and internationally. He is author of King of the Jungle (Ibbetson Press, 2010) and Across Stones of Bad Dreams (Červená Barva Press, (2011).

TJ Edson: “I have the tendency to funnel the chaos and madness of my own mind’s intent into digestible artistic forms. The value of documenting the journey that this entails is becoming more and more important to me. Through this practice, I am able to better understand and grapple with a manic chemistry that drives me to create and to destroy.”