The featured image and the following poem are part of a larger collection (titled “Transit”) which was the result of a collaboration with photographer Tom Darin Liskey in the spring of 2020. It was an honor to work with Tom, whose photography I have admired for many years. We are currently preparing this collection for publication. Stay tuned for updates on this collaboration.
Sometimes the deepest
Truths are on the surface
of a priest’s thumb. Ash
symbol of death, sign
of impermanence, icon
of a simple truth:
Every beginning
Has an end, and all stories
That start will stop.
Wisdom lives within
constraint, these opposing truths
that every child knows:
death will have its day
and sorrow. But here is love
and life wins in the end.
*****
Image by Tom Darin Liskey
Poem by Kelly Belmonte
All Nine 