Last Poem


It has been said that some moments
take on significance
because of when they occur
for example the last minutes
and the first ones

So now I must tell you
it's time to blow up the moon
which yes will leave
a dark space in the sky above
where once the sun's light
illuminated lunar rock
in a soft blue haze
Only of this I am sure
But just as a new moon
hangs invisible
for a moment until in days
it turns again to glow
a newer moon will drag itself
back into the poem
& unimaginably so
b/c even though
the moon is inevitable
it's far too easy to forget this fact
in all our heaven's blackness
Like a prayer on page
folded & unfolded then refolded
as a form of saying
I know no other way of living
but through the constant reshaping
of every word I feel
always surprised to hear
some strange sound
falling from my mouth
onto someone else's skin





Joshua Ware lives in Cleveland, OH where he teaches at Case Western Reserve University and writes for Vouched Books. He is the author of Homage to Homage to Homage to Creeley (Furniture Press Books) and several chapbooks, most recently Imaginary Portraits (Greying Ghost Press), How We Remake the World (Slope Editions) with Trey Moody, and SDVIG (alice blue books) with Natasha Kessler.