Abstract Associations #001
A conversation in poetic verses
photo by Jeremy Nathan Marks
Dry river —
When I return to the horseshoe, a fallen arch etched in the bleached dirt, I receive permission to forget anything after my origin. The rut of a wheel, filaments of an iron road, I crave the desert. I crave permission for fingers to claim and tongue to name and have the wind lay both down and keep title to itself. I unlearn claims, wait for water to fill this basin. A dry river stirs in my breastbone. The milk snake sleeps beside a rock; I haven’t had a drink in hours. She spins with pinwheel whimsy. When you no longer sweat you’ve approached death.
©2025 Jeremy Nathan Marks
[The Reply]
art by Clifford Lafontaine, Ribcage
Your Thoracic —
Beware the siren’s
Seductress careening
Dance with Aeolus’s
Translucent heights rolling
Unmoored tempestuous sea.
Transform your void
Reversing verse to
Navigate sand and wetland as
Grain is still sand and sand
Is the pulsing of the fittest.
The Way is the path is the reward
While the horseshoe stands witness
Breathing dark desert raven breath songs
Streaming lapis essence salt sweat
—traversing your thoracic.
If intellect is a single flame
By every soul shared
Why drown in arid when
Verdant dance will cause
Minds to sway?
©2025 SylviA 🌞 KalinA
 | A guest post by
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Brilliant play with poetic verse!
Jeremy I absolutely loved the depth in your words. There were many lines that stood out to me.
“I receive permission to forget anything after my origin.”
“When you no longer sweat you’ve approached death.”
Vibes: Spiritual pilgrimage, survival instinct.