Open Country

Open Country

John Vigren

And when I awake
and remember desire,
struck camps and regret,
and shower and grope
to the highway to pay
the price of my keep,
a long red light
permits me to open
a window and hear
the mountain horizon
that’s turned to a cloud
and then to a swarming
of birds; to hear
their quarrel all round
that soothes with its gentle
rain of unrest, with
its countless struck camps,
relentless desire.

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John Vigren
Poet & Photographer

John is a photographer and recovering addict.  His poems have appeared in Cider Press Review, Stillwater Review, and Poems for Ephesians, and have won the (Canadian) Christian Publishers Poetry Prize and Utmost Christian Rhyming Poetry Prize.  He lives in New Jersey with his wife, Elizabeth.

Photography by Stephen Hamilton