Jimmy Burns

THE DARKNESS

Epicenter of stroke

my black hole
my horizon event

words die in exit from tongue
language slurs to gibberish:
an I going to survive?

You make your trade in language.
You earn a living from language.
You are in a love affair with language.

Language which once came easily
suddenly strained…
labored,
foreign.

During chaos
you write poems in your head.
Poems you can’t speak orally.
Poems unable to be transferred
by ink to paper.

Recovery.
learn to sit upright again.
Straighten crooked mouth.
Resume slowly.

After dreaming in silence
you wake
to gather your mind
and claim a second chance
of writing your
beloved language.

Down/Up

The poet attends honors for his son,
venue not accessable…

Hotel employees lift his wheelchair
carry him down steps

like…

disciples
lowering a lame man
through the roof to the feet
of Jesus.

When ceremony finished
they raised him…

back to the next level

Jimmy Burns writes his poetry with his right arm from his wheelchair at his rural home at the edge the urban chaos of Houston. Burns survived a stroke at age 49 in 2005 and retired from teaching English. Burns had published many poems before stroke and more afterwards. Recent poetry in Backstreet, Clark Street Review, Edgz, Left Behind, Nomad's Choir, Pegasus. Saturday Diner, Sol, Wordgathering and Writer's Block .