Diminuendo
John Paul Davis
Small Lichen on Goatskin Vellum
Sandra Wilcoxon
You could say there was a cantankerous septet
in one chamber of my heart, rambunctious
& daring, hot horns & tumble drums,
a Monday morning downtown streetscape
right at rush hour in another, the thunderstorm
you remember waking you up as a child
in the third & in the fourth the world’s entire population
of dogs on garbage day, until I met you.
Then all that bustle & clamor began to quiet
a fraction of a decibel a week
hardly noticeable at first, but definitely the volume
was lowering, & now, fifteen years later
the band is playing slow ballads as background
texture; it’s Sunday noon with downtown deserted;
the rain is the soft summer kind my grandmother
called “fuzzing”; the dogs are all asleep in a pile
in a sunbeam on the carpet. My doctor
used to worry about my blood pressure
but last checkup she tapped my forehead
three times with a tiny silver hammer
to make sure I was there & maybe this is the part
of the movie right before the credits
when the characters finally relax & smile,
maybe this is the section of the scripture
that just lists the livestock everybody owns
& all the begetting, the Book of Us
chapter fifty, verses 1-47, your smile
begat my smile begat your smile
begat my smile begat
your smile begat mine.
John Paul Davis is the author of Climbing A Burning Rope (University of Pittsburgh, 2024) and Crown Prince Of Rabbits (Great Weather For Media, 2017). His poems have appeared in numerous journals including Florida Review, Elysium Review, Beaver Magazine, and others. You can find out more about him at www.johnpauldavis.org or find out too much about him on BlueSky and Instagram.
Sandra Wilcoxon started painting in watercolor in 2020, and soon focused on Botanical Art. It is an exciting and challenging art form, depicting and interpreting nature in great detail. She loves texture and discovery and the discipline of daily sketching and practice, and finds it gratifying to see the work grow and evolve as she becomes better at combining paper, paint, pencil and pen to achieve the desired effect. Prior to developing her Botanical series, she worked in mixed media using beads and pearls woven into three-dimensional sculptures and statement jewelry. She’s also done quite a bit of drawing, printmaking and clay work. See more of Sandra’s work at www.skwilcoart.com or on Instagram.