Welcome to “Poetry at The Arts Fuse.” A new poem every Thursday.

Falling                                   

                for J

When I fell for you
I fell upward
though more like jumping
along a mountain stream
small waterfalls gurgling with enthusiasm
sun streaming dappled through oak and pine
then leaping along alpine trails
from wispy hump of grass to another
and later steadily stepping
from boulder to boulder to
solid blue-skied peak
clear air filling my lungs
bright sun squinting my smile
and sitting me onto a glacier carved love seat
beside you

When I lost you
I fell downward
slipping our seat
granite turned to shale
cold air suddenly too thin
stumbling over cliff’s edge
clipping crags
that gash in the somersault
hurtling past outspread oak
and speared onto the dried spike of a pine
branches breaking
with the weight
and dropping me
into an icy stream
that gurgles watery echoes from our peak

Tom Laughlin is a Professor of English and Coordinator of the Creative Writing Program at Middlesex Community College in Massachusetts where he coordinates the MCC Visiting Writers Series; open readings for students; and the publication of the literary magazine Dead River Review.  He was a volunteer staff reader for many years for Ploughshares and has taught literature classes in two Massachusetts prisons.  His poetry has appeared in Green Mountains Review, Ibbetson Street, Drunk Monkeys, The Main Street Rag, Blue Mountain Review, Pensive, and elsewhere.  His poetry chapbook, The Rest of the Way, was released by Finishing Line Press in 2022.  His website is www.TomLaughlinPoet.com

Note: Hey poets! We seek submissions of excellent poetry from across the length and breadth of contemporary poetics. See submission guidelines here. The arbiter of the feature is the magazine’s poetry editor, John Mulrooney.

— Arts Fuse editor Bill Marx