Contributor: Emily Strauss

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A pause

a stopping of
sound-sense

holding a possible
finality of motion

sliding toward rest
momentum ceasing

words forgotten in
mid-speech

the end not needed
ocean never reached—

the arroyo dry and rocky
its stream waiting
for winter rains

this rest—
air in abeyance
vision dark

a touch in the night
reduced to a grazing wind

bare skin unable to
feel direction
north and south equal

the compass stilled
center waiting—
everything comes here
finally

the wheel
not spinning—

we fall inward
closer— the edge approaches

almost a sound
then gone again


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Emily Strauss has an M.A. in English, but is self-taught in poetry. Over 170 of her poems appear in dozens of online venues and in anthologies. She is a semi-retired teacher living in California.