Ars Poetica: An Ode to Let it Live

I’ve never understood                  the term rolling 
hills. But if this      car were to roll and barrel 
off this highway into a backyard, tearing 
Earth, each piece       of grass pulling 

        the rims with everything they have 
till their fibers fall     apart, and we don’t 

       slow down, breaking             through the side 
        of a small house, I wonder if there’d 
 be peace.                Or pieces. Or if we were 

to stay on tarmac, I would                             notice the wet 
                 rock face as I clear                         my throat; mucous mixed 
                                with blood and spit                   in the back of my mouth 

tastes sweet and it’s got                   no place            to go, so it’s just 
                               displaced for now. I hack again, and we’re 100 miles 
from home. The trees we pass are chimes amiss 

                                in the wind. The endless        clearing made for decrepit 
power lines is something beautiful we built. Like the pond, I didn’t 
                 get to picture, and that’ll live on only in these words that may 

                              never be read. Or I'll let myself drift 
    into the other lane to see what happens.

ZACKARY JARRELL

Zackary Jarrell graduated from Salisbury University, majoring in English with a concentration in creative writing. He is the former captain of the Salisbury University Ultimate Frisbee Club. He has had poetry published in his school’s literary magazine, The Shore, and the Oakland Arts Review. He is a former poetry editor of 149 Review. He was born in Christiana, Delaware, and grew up in Elkton, Maryland.