POETRY
Chris Abani Victoria Chang Michael Chitwood Keith Ekiss Gibson Fay-LeBlanc Beth Ann Fennelly Raza Ali Hasan James Hoch Cyan James Julia Johnson Larry Levis Khaled Mattawa Timothy O’Keefe Catherine Pierce Jon Pineda John Poch Austin Segrest Louie Skipper Ron Smith Robert Thomas Joshua Weiner Lesley Wheeler Charles Wright
CHARLES WRIGHT
Future Tense
All things in the end are bittersweet— An empty gaze, a little way-station just beyond silence.
If you can’t delight in the everyday, you have no future here.
And if you can, no future either.
And time, black dog, will sniff you out, and lick your lean cheeks, And lie down beside you—warm, real close—and will not move.
Contributor’s notes Six Poems from Sestets