mindfullness is a well-placed comma splice

By Mallory Everhart

from the topmost elevation of my heart
rate, i can see a future where the rush of
intention guides me toward presence more
than the tide of held blood, fast and
smooth, poises me to take an action

i will later regret, knowing then what i had
no access to now but, instead, stopping to
survey a landscape of entirely possible if,
maybe, not plausible, but hope springs eternal in
the human beast and I am eminently, imminently

hopeful, so human is my best and creaturely
quality, which can create a corrective, a conscious
counter narrative, if you will, to the presupposed
but fictive fact that this is all there is, that this is all
the choreography our nerves know, this memory,

this burdensome perhaps, a commitment to might
be, here, within eyeshot, and see what wonder,

what wondering could do.

Mallory Everhart is the poet-chaplain of Colorado Springs, using writing and performance to make sense of the world and give the walking wounded permission to grieve. She is a pastor, healer, space-holder, and wants to know your name. Find her at @MalloryEverhart on Twitter.