“What is Ending” by Jess Weitz
I.
morning sun
come my way
take my pain
down to the cool waters
lumbering into a shock of light
a brown earth form
grand emaciated mountain
dripping milk from black teets
sings the spring into being
while climbing through a slit in the rocks
two new forms in tow
a single body holding
exhaustion and power
moving between roots and tree tops
birthing through dreams
the brown bear emerges
II.
Start writing again she says
how can it be
just as muscle memory
is forming
around clay vessels
forged between my hands
Stop talking and write she insists
words tumble down
insistent raindrops
forming in the air
with my arms
holding the bucket
open upwards
to catch whole poems
Keep paper nearby
I awake in the darkest
point of night
inside a crocheted cocoon
yarn of words
encapsulating this body
listen to a whisper through the weft
III.
she tells the tale
of a tiny orange poison dart frog
ruinous leader that beacons creatures
to lick it’s back to inebriate hearts with its toxins
its croaking pings
inside our minds
as all creatures live
inside a single shared space
ever expanding
through the stars
but one sparrow need only flutter a wing to move a sandstorm
to obstruct the ruler’s cyclops eye to send him into the circling death march around his own green money jungle of madness
IV.
I listen peering through the west window
the wind’s airstream
dances over frozen waves
cascades across our dormant field
bare branch tentacles
a tethered land kelp sway
as gale gusts moan
through tree tops
dark voices careen
across this winter landscape
whip chattering thoughts
through my ears
mice nibbling at peace
V.
I recognize this ongoing tale
of toppled mountains
splayed upward
once serene
writhing now to right gravity
inside the mound
across three rocks
lies a once playful giant
spread open
tongue laying
to the side
outside on the dirt road
wisdom the size
of a human hand
hit by the speed
of change
my eyes caked in dirt
stare down
into the dark tilth
hearing the tick tock
clocks underground
VI.
fire like an ancient god
has reappeared to ravage realms
gobbling pavement
couch xbox cabinet
while ponderosa cones
burst open online
after cool ground
centuries
our furless forms
adapted to sheetrock
beg to curl
into a tardigrade tun
waiting out inside
rereading lines
in the good book
studying flood stories
VII.
time forever cycling
another tale of
spindled legs holding tight
to verdant grass
until picked off
by the elongated beak
of a blue grey heron
lifted above a sea
of mountainous swells
and dropping down down
into the depth’s darkness
tugged tattered torn
in jaws of translucent fish
until a skeleton emerges
on the ocean floor
dancing in sandy sound
flesh begins to adhere
bone claws fur
a cream colored bear forms
undulating in the swells
upward watery muscles
remember how to swim
into the breaking waves
lit by sun
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Jess Weitz Artist Statement:
I am a neurodivergent, multi-disciplinary visual artist and writer living with chronic illness, in Marlboro, Vermont. My artistic practice encompasses photography, painting, found object sculpture, writing, and ceramics, often blending these mediums in innovative ways.
My ceramics and paintings are inspired by the local landscape, incorporating found plant and soil materials to create pigments, slips, and glazes. Driven by a deep connection to place (topophilia), my process intertwines the visual and poetic aspects of memory. I have also self-published two books of poetry with artwork, and have two books and an installation of multi-genre nonfiction writing and artwork forth coming.
What does it feel like to be alive? I want to speak from the inside out – inside the mountain, creating an artifact of authenticity. I use different writing and art forms to express different facets of my experience. My magnetic river is flowing with my experience as a single organism in a divine whole. My tributaries of interest are Jungian psychology, Buddhist philosophy, black feminist thinkers like Audre Lorde, curiosity about suffering and illness, in our own bodies and on the earth body. I feel challenges can open us to deeper truths.
