Orlando Journal: June 1996
After the rejection
Drowned in hops, I jump a fence
off I-4, land in black mud
sink to knee, sink to elbow
as I fall forward, the moon
holds my stupor, my silence
like a chalice from which it drinks:
seconds, minutes, hours, life.
The world smells of decayed leaves.
Twenty-two stars become goldfish
in a pond and swim away.
How did I get this drunk?
Why am I alone off a highway
at 5 a.m.— Where is my home?
Why are these cars moving
by so fast. I get up,
rub the mud into my pants, shirt,
whisper, “Her eyes, roman
candles aimed at my darkness,
exploded.” I look for the next bar.
Kent Fielding – educator, editor, poet, activist – co-founded White Fields Press and the literary renaissance with Ron Whitehead in 1992. Fielding is an Honorary Kentucky Colonel, a BP Teacher of Excellence, an Alaska Teacher of the Year Finalist, 2021 Alaska Speech and Debate Coach of the Year. He has taught in the Marshall Islands, at Jefferson Community College, University of Alaska Southeast, Mt. Edgecumbe, Skagway High School, and at summer institutes in Turkey and Latvia. He is Author of two books of poetry, River Church (Radial Press 2025), Chief Iffuccan, a chapbook, The Revolution is About to Begin, and a broadside “Museums”.
