The Act

WARD KELLEY

This pain of dissatisfaction,
this hollowing between chest
and stomach, only stops its

eternal ache when I contemplate
the act of the poem, as though
there exists a corn cob link,

a vegetable inverse funnel,
repository of life now void
of kernels, this tubular bridge

between my body and yours,
my soul, my lost love, my
mystery . . . my sane insanity

who I seek throughout the small
expanse of infinite history, you
who brutishly kicked me back.

Ward Kelley has seen more than 900 of his poems appear in journals world wide since he began publishing in 1996. A Pushcart Prize nominee, Kelley's publication credits include such journals as: ACM Another Chicago Magazine, Rattle, Ginger Hill, Sunstone, Spillway, Porcupine Literary Magazine, Pif, 2River View, Log Cabin Chronicles, Melic Review, The Animist, Offcourse, Potpourri and Skylark. He has been honored as featured poet for Seeker Magazine, Physik Garden, Poetry Life & Times, and Pyrowords. Recently he was the recipient of the Nassau Review Poetry Award for 2001.