Question:  At this moment in time, which of your own poems is your personal favorite,

and why?

Equilibrium

A flower against the harsh inertia

bathing in Hades’ dim light

uncaring motion, as transformation dwindles

spoons of sun, with eager drip

an exquisite undertaking, falling

with all the weight of your limbs

It is risky to be a human being

it is lost amongst the landing of color;

oblique transitions.   I spoke to you through

the uncaring distance.  Through the

skeletal pain.

Substance of sleep; pictorial, nearly delving.

widening stares, unbreaking negligence

at the very base of the world.  These masks

were worn into disrepair.  In front

of the snow bank, behind the gas station,

in the ease of summer; spring’s tumult

wanders out of hibernation into the

closets of our lives

Fevers wane, giving way to all-too-familiar

words. Honing the craft of storing away blushes

until those who fell through all available substance

reemerge.  Though it is only a mirage, a

well-maintained visage, a mother falling towards

all sand, rainwater nursed in wise hands.

***

This poem was first published by Abstract Magazine here.

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JL Moultrie discusses Equilibrium:

Equilibrium was written in a spontaneous fashion. I was trying to let the words and concepts flow out of me with no impediments. As poets, we try to translate emotions and impressions into words. This poem is one where I feel I came closest to getting the words to convey what was originally in my mind. I must thank JL Jacobs, the editor of Abstract: Contemporary Expressions, for helping realize the final form of the poem and giving it a home. I feel that some of the lines in it stand out with their originality and intensity, while also conforming to the overall theme; our shared humanity. I tried to capture the finite and fragile nature of human existence in a small, concise space.

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Bio:

J.L Moultrie is a native Detroiter, poet and fiction writer who communicates his art through the written word. He fell in love with literature after encountering Fyodor Dostoyevsky, James Baldwin, Rainer Maria Rilke and many others. His work appears or is forthcoming in 𝘋𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘢 𝘓𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘑𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘯𝘢𝘭, 𝘈𝘣𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵: 𝘊𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘌𝘹𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴, 𝘝𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘵, 𝘉𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘴, 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘍𝘳𝘦𝘦 𝘓𝘪𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘐𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘵 𝘝𝘰𝘪𝘥 and elsewhere. He considers himself a literary abstract artist of modernity.