Poetry By Julian Cason

Photo by Virgil Cayasa on Unsplash

Seeing Stars

Listen to Julian reading his poem:

We arrive 
not quite from nowhere
to lie together, 
two empty spoons in need of shining,
to share the charge of rural stars,
and ponder
all those crazy gaps
between them 
and us.

Simmering on a bank of nighttime grass, 
you name this act
Cosmic Vertigo,
till suddenly you are crying:
for the past, and the future, but mostly for
the many shocks of now:
time running askew
in this skyward drowning.
Your tears are distilled starlight,
neither of us 
fully understanding 
their distant origins.

The crook of an arm I brought with me
for one purpose
comforts you,
shutting out your crowding
over-lit universe,
though the limb is stuck fast as a buttress, 
unfree to offer 
that much more earthy 
tenderness.

---

Julian Cason is a writer from Cardiff. His professional life has been mainly spent working with the terminally ill.Twice Pushcart Nominated. Publications include Envoi, East Ridge Review, Dawntreader, Black Bough, Full House Literary, Frogmore Papers, Sarasvati, Dreich, Dream Catcher. Short-listed for Black Bough Collection Competition 2023. Short-listed Cinnamon Pamphlet Award 2024. Contributing poet to multiple anthologies. Joint winner Black Bough New Simile Competition 2024.