Tonight By Jake St. John

I was driving 

on a silent stretch 

of highway 

stars littering 

the landscape

I began to think 

to myself

about the origins

of all things

I started asking 

questions in the stillness

as trees passed by

my windows

what came before

what comes next

what's behind the curtain

what if the universe 

didn't exist at all

what would be 

in it's place

what would it all be 

and for a brief second 

it was.

 

Jake St. John lives in the woods on the edge of the Salmon River. He is the author of several collections of poetry including Lips Leave Scars (with Jenn Knickerbocker, Whiskey City Press, 2023) Ring of Fog (Holy and Intoxicated Publications, 2022), Night Full of Diamonds (Whiskey City Press, 2021), and Lost City Highway (A Jabber Publication, 2019). He is the editor of Elephant and is considered an original member of the New London School of poetry. His poems have appeared in print and online journals around the world."