Three Poems by Joseph E. Arechavala: Stairs, snowflake, the mud god

Three Poems by Joseph E. Arechavala

Stairs

I remember running
up and down stairs
in my childhood
My way of flying
As I jumped
two
or three
at a time
Now I’m slower,
sensibly taking
one step
to another
Climbing higher more work now
down so much easier
down so much easier

snowflake

each snowflake falling was a reminder

each circular trajectory, each impact, each
individual earthquake of ice against ground

all here, all perfect for the twelve minutes

before destruction, before sameness
conquers crystalline perfection

before heat dissolves the intricate into chaos

like the steam curling from my coffee
on its own trajectory into cloud and wind

circling in its own orbit of the sun

the mud god

the mud god is my new god,
because it never expects adoration
never demands virgin crimson
nor a glorious edifice

the mud god is my new god,
because it never clutches at gold
never crusades against the infidel
nor sends souls beneath it

the mud god is my new god
because it only wants rain

Joseph E. Arechavala is a married father of two boys who has lived in Camden County, NJ all his life, dealing daily with his and his sons’ challenges of Asperger’s Syndrome. A graduate of Rutgers University Camden in 2009 with a BA in English, he looks for inspiration anywhere he can find it, writing about any subject He has been writing since 1998, and has had several poems, essays, and stories published online, in local newspapers, and in national print publications, such as Hudson View, Skyline, and Pearl. His vampire novel Darkness Persists has just been accepted for publication by Passionate Writer Press.

Copyright 2012, Joseph E. Arechavala. © This work is protected under the U.S. copyright laws. It may not be reproduced, reprinted, reused, or altered without the expressed written permission of the author.