“I mean negative capability, that is when man is capable of being
in uncertainties. Mysteries, doubts, without any irritable reaching
after fact and reason.” John Keats, letters, 1817
In the dry garden waiting for poems
to bloom, I study the twisted spiral
rosettes of agave. New stalks press
into old, hold fast, share edges,
until the older frond breaks free,
leaving its imprint etched
on the younger penca. It was
the hardest thing I ever did,
leaving my brother to the street.
Some ask why I think on the past
but, like these spiky plants, tilting greenly
at aging stars, I can’t unfurl, can’t breathe
into this word at the tip of my tongue
without remembering where I come from.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Kathryn Jordan received her MA in English at UCB. A music teacher and poet, her book, Riding Waves, was published by Finishing Line Press in 2018. She is the 2016 winner of the San Miguel de Allende Writers’ Conference Prize. Her poems appear or are forthcoming in The New Ohio Review, The Comstock Review, Wraparound South, Birdland, Roar, among others. She is an avid birder and loves to ramble in the East Bay Hills, translating bird song to poetry whenever possible.