1 Poem by Jeffrey A. Hanson

Time and Tide

The time reels forward as fish do
Whirling and banking through glaucous waters offshore

And you have come to spend the later part of day
Investigating every speck of sky in slow-float over the sea

There is Kevin and John
Their voices shred fast and flap off with the wind

Down the long trail of salt sputum
The single line between sea and sky is holding

Such a thing is the clock that pounds out hours
In waves and spray. No one is ever more alone

Than being alone with the sea, with the wind that won’t cease
Laying its pulse to the ear in odd time

As urgent and persistent as the sea-lost
Who slap with open hands windows on freedom


Bionote

Jeffrey A. Hanson worked as a landscaper, security guard, janitor, journeyman roofer, and sailor before receiving a PhD in Creative Writing at Ohio University. He taught in Southeastern prisons for 13 years and retired from Hocking College in 2018. He currently teaches as an adjunct Professor for Ohio University. He says, “Even though I often choose peculiar settings and imaginative narratives for my poetry, the truth comes out. The soul is impressionable and because poetry provides one a deep expression of experience, the personal events of my life have influenced my style and the subject matter of my poems.”