JOHN DRUDGE

JOHN DRUDGE

Hourglass

Consolation in joy

Affirmation in sorrow

The randomness

Of modern life

Not easily reflected

In hardened eyes

As we gaze out

From this new cult

Of ugliness

Suffering in perpetual regret

Awakened to nothing

Victims of vanity

As the clock ticks down

Absurdly

Endings

Every story

Taken to its end

Has the same ending

And we know it

But strike on

We must

Toward the lone

Shining light

That guides us

Toward the rocks

Of our beckoning

Toward the last

Fresh dawn

On the horizon

As we exhale

Headlong

Into a nourishing sun

Down Below

We are nature

Uniquely significant

Turbulent and original

Retrospective

In our shaping

And forward moving

By design

Forgoing nostalgia

For novelty

Where everything

Is here now

Living within

The divine spark

Of will

In the ruins

Of our discontent

With transparent seeing eyes

Within the grandeur

Of ordinary life

Toiling beneath the surface

Where we never

Quite belong

Connected

Beneath our own

Net of stars

Repeating

Between the big bang’s

Creation

And the black hole’s

Nearing destruction

Where old sins

Cast long shadows

Beneath the sky’s

Ashen cry

Before the awakening

Begins

And where we simplify

Understanding

In harmony with nature

Taking what the mountain

Gives us

In a unified field

Through shifting time

Where the only real fear

Is not waking up

To love

At a Distance

The hidden magic

Of an ultra-violet

Catastrophe

Of light and electricity

Photo eccentricity

Probabilistic

Entangled

In the cosmic fabric

Like a cat

Among pigeons

With the nature of reality

Bleeding below

As revolutions of madness

Rest in chaos

And ripples drift

Across a flat sea

Time

It’s time

To celebrate existence

By slowing down

Perceptions

Jumping in

To the centre of it all

Flashing forward

And beyond

As time

Folds into fog

Behind that one last breath

Of our breaking grasp

JOHN DRUDGE

JOHN DRUDGE is a social worker working in the field of disability management and holds degrees in social work, rehabilitation services, and psychology.  He is the author of two books of poetry: “March” and “The Seasons of Us” (both published in 2019). His work has appeared in the Arlington Literary Journal, The Rye Whiskey Review, Poetica Review, Drinkers Only, Literary Yard, The Alien Buddha Press, Montreal Writes, Mad Swirl, La Picoletta Barca Literary Journal (Cambridge University), The Avocet, Hibiscus, The Pangolin Review, Writers and Readers Magazine, Sparks of Caliope, Harbinger Asylum, Beyond Words Literary Magazine, Black Coffee Review, Redshift 4, Setu Magazine, The Ekphrastic Review, and the Adelaide Literary Magazine.  John is a Pushcart Prize nominee and lives in Caledon Ontario, Canada with his wife and two children.