by Jeffrey Essmann

sometimes:
the words 
bounce 
in me as in
a room 
cleared out,
waiting
for a new 
coat 
of paint

a dull 
echo
they have:
(tinny; tiny)
suspended
lambent
not falling
not floating
more like:
fireflies
in the
empty 
room:
just a tiny
spark
(here now;
there)
then gone, 
just a tiny…

---

Jeffrey Essmann is an essayist and poet living in New York. His poetry has appeared in numerous magazines and literary journals, among them Dappled Things, the St. Austin Review, The Society of Classical Poets, Amethyst Review, Agape Review, America Magazine, U.S. Catholic, Heart of Flesh Literary Journal, Edge of Faith, Pensive, and various venues of the Benedictine monastery with which he is an oblate. He is editor of the Catholic Poetry Room page on the Integrated Catholic Life website.