I’ve Spent My Life Separated from Living
Separated by doors, windows, walls—
swallowed by digital throats, settled into a stomach
where I collected friends and hearts like stamps.
I’m not sure what I want on my gravestone, but I know
it’s not: Comfortable Suburbanite. Perpetually Online.
I’m interested in interruptions: how from a night sky
a lightning bolt sunders a solid oak or birch,
how an evening without electricity gathers us
like moths to the candlelight in each others’ eyes,
how eyes lock from across a busy train station,
how a train can usher a leaper or an accidental
dreamer into eternity. Eternity has already begun
and my life is a blip somewhere in its predawn.
In the predawn, my one job is to flash like a firefly,
to refuse to drown in the comfort of the dark.
Bethany Jarmul
Bethany Jarmul is an Appalachian writer, poet, writing coach, and workshop instructor. She’s the author of a poetry collection, Lightning is a Mother, and a memoir, Take Me Home. Her work has been published in more than 100 literary magazines, including Rattle, Brevity, and Salamander. Her writing was selected for Best Spiritual Literature and Best Small Fictions and nominated for the Pushcart Prize and The Best of the Net. She’s a grant recipient from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts. Connect with her at bethanyjarmul.com or on social media: @BethanyJarmul.
