"Portion" by L. Ward Abel

Portion

Just like a Jain, I’m careful to step
where nothing else is, and when I feel

something under my foot I lean away
I try, while going.

My portion parades like screenplay
up to now and now and again I relate it all

to sparrows: they fly near the eyes of

my passing through.

L. Ward Abel

L. Ward Abel’s work has appeared in Rattle, The Reader, The Istanbul Review, The Worcester Review, The Honest Ulsterman, Versal, and hundreds of others, and he is the author of three full collections and ten chapbooks of poetry, including Jonesing For Byzantium (UK Authors Press, 2006), American Bruise (Parallel Press, 2012), Little Town gods (Folded Word Press, 2016), A Jerusalem of Ponds (erbacce-Press, 2016), The Rainflock Sings Again (Unsolicited Press, 2019), Floodlit (Beakful, 2019), and The Width of Here (Silver Bow, 2021).

Headshot: Michie Turpin

Photo Credit: Staff