Brian Rihlmann

Analog as I sit zazen my eye drifts to the black t-shirt in the corner of the roomexactly where I left it—where I hurled it with force after another jaw tightening dayof so called life I have the urge to pick it upto smooth itto fold itto get it out of my sight but it’s no accident it flew and fellaccording to the laws of physicslanded as it was supposed tocreased in a particular waywhich only seems chaotic the perfect analog… I stare at it—this half-unraveleddark ball of fabricexamining the foldsand hollows after awhile my handscupped in mudrabegin their slow collapselike they always docrushing the imaginary cosmic egg I’m holdingspilling yolk in my lap Enlightenment, of a Sort as i sit in meditationcross legged on the carpeti hear a low huma vibration surging through meas though I’ve tapped into something to everything maybe this is it? a trace of a smile tiptoes across my lipsas i sense the eyesof an epiphany peeping around the corner but no... only the furnace warming upits blue flame moaning through the ductwork now the fan kicks in and hot air from a ventwhisks an errant wisp of hair from my forehead into my eyeball i blink at the irritationthis obnoxious invasion of the nowlike a gnat buzzingthrough my fantasyof an even-keeled self that awaits mein some futurei will reachwhen i finally touch the horizonand the pink sunrise smiling in futility's facei brush the hair awayand resume sittingwith the hot airwashing over me an ocean of itappropriately fills the room Original Face I hope one dayI can look at life,and at you, like a newborn that hasn’t yet learned to smile, or frown,or the unwritten lawof when he must turnfrom the gaze of the other.Until then, sometimes I just have to stareat my shoes. Brian Rihlmann was born in New Jersey and currently resides in Reno, Nevada. He writes free verse poetry, and has been published in The Blue Nib, The American Journal of Poetry, Cajun Mutt Press, The Rye Whiskey Review, and others. His first poetry collection, “Ordinary Trauma,” (2019) was published by Alien Buddha Press.