Despite

Despite

J.A. Baker

Despite my wracked world I saw buds on an April tree
when circumstances glared and summer set
as I tried for agreements and acquiesced
to the morass of a blooming reality.

Despite my rent world I heard May birds flock the window
closed to the haunt of spectered sound
warbling wrens, fowl, and prey resound
with pecks at this silent rupture in limbo.

Despite what falls apart the sun rose at 5:06am
a shot in my ever-present June dark
the solstice a symbol of an eternal arch
strands through mutability of amen;

as I grasp for the promise in a July that fades,
it is the changing world that recalls what stays.

---

J.A. Baker
Poet & Writer

Recipient of UMass Boston’s David A. Kennedy Prize for poetry

Photography by Daniel Casson