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.
***
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.
***
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.