JOHN PAUL MARTINEZ

Self-Portrait as Ecotone

if for whatever reason

all that comes next

is wintering

then let it be

unto my crystalline soma

moon-radiant

glistering through the clouds

the trees stocked

with mourning doves

densening carpet of mushed dewberries

encircling each hardened trunk

in a black-blue border

and a planted man     with plump leaves for hair

where instead each eye

an umbra

gaunt legs mushrooming

at the forest’s edge

this lissome body

in constant bloom

John Paul Martinez is a Filipino-Canadian poet writing out of Wisconsin. He was selected as a finalist for the 2018 Black Warrior Review Poetry Contest and has been nominated for Best of the Net. His poetry is forthcoming or has appeared in wildness, Matador Review, Gone Lawn, and 100 Word Story. He holds a BA in Linguistics from the University of Wisconsin—Madison.