Three Poems by Jerry B. Hogan

 

“The Fog”

 

The fog came early, impenetrable,

blocking the light in a thick

bank, overwhelming first vision,

blinding in its white density.

 

By mid-morning, rays from the

sun slipped through the gray, the

white, clouds lifting, drifting,

anticipating the clarity of sight.

 

Mid-day, nearly evaporated away,

only a sizzling moisture left, blending

with the hazy blue sky to trouble,

to weaken, glassy eyes obscuring.

 

Then by eve returning, mist thickening

over field and valley, slowly obscuring

all once more, all light extinguished in a

deep and endless night.

 

“The Weight”

 

Barely perceptible at first

resting lightly on small shoulders,

weight cushioned by guileless

innocence and grace.

 

Slowly growing, building then

over time, awareness of the

weight, of its sources, its gravity-like

inevitability and accumulation.

 

Base fully established, but on

strong wide shoulders now,

impact lessened by impervious

strength and hope.

 

Still, over time and weathered age,

with stooped back, the burden too strong,

weakened will collapses into itself, the weight

unbearable and victorious.

 

“A Lengua Franca”

 

was the hoped-for line of

communication between them

when other methods began to fail.

They had different words for

misunderstanding, ideas misspoken,

no common expressions for

shame, manipulation, or

resentment, frustration, unfulfillment.

For a spell they agreed on anger,

hostility, a fevered distance.

Sometimes there were just sounds,

not even words, barely articulated,

half understood at best.

Finally, there were gaps of

silence, expressions cold,

unfeeling, unspoken

until at last there were no

words left in common at all, and

they found, without surprise, that

there was nothing left to say,

nothing left at all.

 

Jerry B. Hogan has published over 270 stories and poems, as well as ten books, including Bar Harbor (short fiction), Time and Time Again, Mexican Skies, Tin Hollow, Living Behind Time, Losing Cotton, The Rubicon, Fallen (short fiction), The Apostate, and Angels in the Ozarks (nonfiction, local professional baseball history). He also was a contributing researcher and writer for The Square Book (local history). He lives in Fayetteville, Arkansas.