Two Poems by Jeremy Williams

Balm

All that rambling-man got
Backed up in my veins
Since people were following meat
And meat was running
From cold

I reach, I strive, I dream

I put pins in that wishing map
Pins in cities
Pins in mountains
The North
The tropics

One pin always in
Anywhere But Here

Then home cries out to me

I walk through these
Stillwater swamps
Spanish moss wraps
Itself round my shoulders
Frogs wink knowingly
Alligators
Whisper
Behind my back

And damn I’m in love all over again
My hair cypress needles
The back of my hand a lily pad bloom
My blood tea-colored swamp water

Mockingbird song slips into my ear
And I’m rooted
Red clay indistinguishable from feet
And staying is simple as
Inhaling a deep breath of humid air

Walk

We walk through the city every day
It is our habit

Child upon my back
I stroll through parks
And neighborhoods
Lined with trees

The tiny voice at my back
Greets the trees
Like old friends
“Hi, tree!” she waves

Today the wind is kind
And the trees wave back

Jeremy Williams was born and raised in the swamps of rural North Florida. After attending college in South Alabama, he moved to the South Georgia coastal plain, where he taught literature, writing and drama for over 20. He is currently an educator, actor and writer on the east coast of Florida.