a clean wind
through broken windows
shadows of clouds across the hills,
the freeways,
the bright green back yards
saw you standing at
the desert’s edge
heard the weight of truth
in your silence
said we are fucked but
so are our enemies and it wasn’t
the drugs that made me smile it was
the sound of your heart
it was the wide open spaces between
the hilltops and the clouds
all of the secrets we
thought to hide there
— JOHN SWEET
John Sweet sends greetings from the rural wastelands of upstate New York. He is a firm believer in writing as catharsis, and in compassionate nihilism. His poetry collections include NO ONE STARVES IN A NATION OF CORPSES (2020 Analog Submission Press) and NOT EVERYTHING IS ABOUT YOU (2024 Apathy Press Poets).