Contact If Found by Newt Gordon-Rein

Contact If by Newt Gordon-Rein Found

I found Strength in the dry gutter on the hill all yellow-edged and cloudy-lined lion’s mane

It wasn’t mine but I carried it for a while— waveform, pushing against push until energy moves on

Not that I couldn’t use some paper-thick courage, self-fulfilling, but I never did learn how to read painted cards—nothing to grip

Strength felt wrong like dull teeth pressing my palm skin, so I left it atop a shrub—the kind I can’t see without thinking

of dead ends. art | Agathe Smith