Negative Capability by Gregory Luce

To fly straight between
low clouds and high water,
racing just ahead of the fatal
longing, the craving for
the next hit, the next
kiss, the next shot,
the fix that fixes
nothing, living between
the mire of the past
and the glittering
illusion of the future.

Gregory Luce, author of Signs of Small Grace, Drinking Weather, Memory and Desire, Tile, and Riffs & Improvisations (forthcoming), has published widely in print and online. He is the 2014 Larry Neal Award winner for adult poetry, given by the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities. He writes a monthly column on the arts for Scene4 magazine. He is retired from National Geographic, works as a volunteer writing tutor/mentor for 826DC, and lives in Arlington, VA.