O:JA&L Poetry: All forms & styles
Sean Wang
NIGHT WALK WITH STONE
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Night lake. I rinse a stone.
Silt lifts; chill stays.
It rides the pulse
I carry toward shore.
Riprap says sit, wait,
so I sit. Midges count.
On the path a cut bloom,
petals stamped flat;
I press the bruise, smell iron,
mark a few cuts myself
on a thorned stem, and pass.
Wind takes my hat at the bare tree,
skitters it under the bench.
I stoop, shake the brim;
sand ticks from the crown.
I pocket the stone. The bark keeps quiet.
Leaves fell to feed us; work will come.
By nightshade, sweet rot.
One berry stains my thumb.
I hold still because the stain
will not. The path holds.
At the light’s seam, water irons flat.
Clay stripes my knees and shirt.
I keep quiet.
In my pocket the stone warms,
picking up my pulse. I open the hand.
Grit stays in the palm—proof.
Let it scratch so the hand remembers.
About the writer:
Sean Wang is a poet and PhD student. His recent work appears or is forthcoming in Cerasus Poetry Magazine, Remington Review, Stone Poetry Quarterly, Eunoia Review, and others.
Image: Lake, Moon, Stone (AI-assisted digital image) by O:JA&L staff creative. 2025. Public domain via Midjourney AI.
OJAL Art Incorporated, publishing since 2017 as OPEN: Journal of Arts & Letters (O:JA&L) and its imprints Buttonhook Press, HOT BUTTON PRESS Contemporary Issues, and HIGH BUTTON PRESS Contemporary Art, supports writers and artists worldwide.
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