back yard filled with sunlight,
flowers,
ghosts,
and even here there is emptiness
even here there is still
the idea of there
a bridge reaching only halfway
across the river
and the river filled with corpses
a civil war
a genocide
means less if you’re in love,
if you’re 10,000 miles away
means less if you
make it mean less
an infinite number of kingdoms
filled with an infinite number
of monsters
the difference between
a god and a lie
good luck figuring out
which is which
John Sweet sends greetings from the rural wastelands of upstate NY. He is a firm believer in writing as catharsis, and in the continuous search for an unattainable and constantly evolving absolute truth. His latest poetry collections include A FLAG ON FIRE IS A SONG OF HOPE (2019 Scars Publications) and A DEAD MAN, EITHER WAY (2020 Kung Fu Treachery Press).