By: Will Hemmer

Life a folly as seen by others, Giordano,
footprints upon the sand in a windy desert
and for that you burn, Giordano,
smoke rising in an acrid flume,
as a psychic scream leaving the soul,
some inchoate crucible of pain,
wraps ‘round the world.

The folly that causes us to undo
the great gifts of Earth and Heaven
not yours, Giordano, no,
and so
where are we,
transient spectators
come to see you leave, Giordano,
the lives of others behind?

Fate robs us of both faith and resolve,
of that rare moment when we looked
through a rainbow and all became magical
but in the end …. dust.

A palpable bitterness rises,
like a nimbus given off by your dying
fire, Giordano.
We, fearfully checking
the horizon for splendid fragments,
particles of omnipotence,

behold but a narrow, stringy, pithy warp,
implacable, memories which distant life
leaves in extinguishing memory
existing against an eternal landscape;
a herd of motionless windmills.

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Will Hemmer is a retired college math teacher. After retirement, he was a play producer in Los Angeles. He produced seven plays and two concerts (he’s also a pretty good singer), then the money ran out.

Will studied creative writing with Glover Davis at San Diego State. He also studied poetry writing at UCLA.

His mentors have said that he is a metaphysical poet. He’ll let you make up your own mind about that.

Will was born in Ohio, April 26 in Zanesville.