CSUN English Department - "Thursday's Notes" - 3/9/17

My wonderful English professor was kind enough to give me a mention in their Department newsletter "Thursday's Notes" regarding my recent publication to the Magee Park Poets Anthology. Check out the posting below.

Original link: http://www.csun.edu/english/tn/blog/2017/03/09/volume-4811

Magee Park Poets Anthology - 3/5/17 - "Sclera"

It's been a long time since my last post here, but I am happy to announce that another one of my original works of poetry has been chosen for publication, this time for the April 2017 issue of the Magee Park Poets Anthology published by Aionios Books. While the anthology won't be available until April 23, 2017, you can view my poem below.

Magee Park Poets Anthology

Aionios Books

“Sclera”

…and I swear,
all would be different
if we could see past the glass.
They say the eyes are windows
to the soul,
but do not forget
that a pane opens both ways.

I see into you
as you see into me:
through two lenses
of varying thicknesses
stained with layers of dirt
and spectrums of light.
Who’s to say
that the glass in which I compose you
doesn’t paint a picture
before I’ve even seen the canvas?
Perhaps you do the same
when you gaze upon me,
colored with the confident ignorance
of the scholar who never left his cave.

We are slanders suspended
in un-tempered, un-blown glass
and we are mutually convinced
that falsehood filters every other frame
save for our own.

Can we trust our eyes
to see past themselves,
past prejudice,
preconception,
presumption,
and finally see each other
and perhaps, ourselves?
Will the heavenly irises
see us open our ribs
and our lobes
as one would a camera aperture
and steady ourselves
to receive and render
a true image of us all?

Desire to see
with everything you have
or you will remain blind.
Do this
before you ever open your eyes.