Embrace
for Devonte Hart
I would have washed ashore, too,
If I had been in the car,
Returned as bruised bones to ocean face
Collected for headlines.
A body reduced to its parts.
But I will not,
Devonte, cannot invite the image
into my trained longhand, where my son
sleeps in peace.
Instead I find you.
Walking the grounds of Sequoia groves
in warm gilded sunlight, field
and fauna your domain. Without fear amidst
these giants, standing guard.
I will meet you there between coast
and vanished, with blackberries or whatever
sweet treat your heart and belly crave. We will eat
in the damp morning. There is more
than enough to eat here.
And if you ever get scared – I do mean ever –
I will wrap you in these arms,
hold you ear-over-heart close,
and believe you.
Michal ‘MJ’ Jones is a poet & parent in Oakland, CA. Their work is featured or forthcoming at Anomaly, Kissing Dynamite, & Borderlands Texas Poetry Review. They are an Assistant Poetry Editor at Foglifter Press, and have fellowships from the Hurston/Wright Foundation, VONA/Voices, & Kearny Street Workshop. They are an MFA graduate fellow at Mills College.