“Some Words for the Week”

I learn they just discovered

a new sort of deep sea fish

which lives without light

miles beneath the surface

with see through skin

it’s heart beats in plain view

it’s insides visible to the world

this is how true nature lives

a raw openness

there is no question here

that things eat one another

that the death of one

is the life of so much else

yet we lie and drive

on hard paved roads

we try so hard to explain

and detail and categorize

everything on earth

while all other life

simply is

the hearts of the world open

and beating

for as long as they need to

and then stopping

as something else

keeps the beat

there is no great mystery to life

no use in dissecting purpose

watch the blue jay fly

between pine branches

watch the salmon swim perfectly

upstream and over what’s left

over the free flowing rivers

watch and learn and listen

and then just be

there is nothing else

and that is the secret

let your heart beat as if

the whole world can see it

be nothing else but alive

until you are no longer so

Alexander Shalom Joseph is a writer from Gilpin County. He has two published books and one more forthcoming in the Fall of 2022. For more information and to subscribe to Alexander’s Newsletter go to alexandershalomjoseph.com