The Long-Distance Runner

I suspect there have been films.

I suspect you know someone or have been a runner yourself.

Long-Distance? Marathoner? Cross Country?

As we battle COVID-19, societies need to have the mentality of the long-distance runner.

Perseverance.

Determination.

Commitment.

Reaching deep within one’s psyche and spirit to push on even when your body/brain wants to collapse; wishes you were a sprinter…short distances…no long haul.

That stance is not what we need to do currently.

While some people protest staying at home regulations and defy social distancing in their street protest.

While these people look like other protesters who defy acceptable norms of societal positions; herald a fringe thinking and may bring the disease to neighborhoods where cohorts of people are most susceptible.

Simply, we need to embrace the essence of the long-distance runner…the solitude… the ability to be one within oneself…the social and physical distancing during the run…the celebrations when the run is over, and goal achieved.

Can you outlast the pandemic?

Become a long distance-runner.

You and we can outlast “19.”

Support others who need your help!

We welcome Jimena Antoniello Ligüera!

Jimena Antoniello Ligüera, PhD (photo provided)

Dr. Antoniello is the author of the poetry collection , Entropy of the soul (Melón Editora, Argentina, 2012) and has participated in the compilation 22 Women (Irrupciones Grupo Editor, Uruguay, 2012). Part of her work has been included in creative magazines such as Otro cielo, Letralia, Kundra, Specimens, aaduna, A Literary Journal and Forth Magazine. She has also published articles and reviews in media in Spain, Mexico, Uruguay and Argentina. She currently lives in the city of Los Angeles, California, where she works as a screenwriter for film and television.

EXECUTIONER

Rip out,

            from the core

my life

my desires, the craving.

Wipe out my waist,

my lips,

my poetry.

Annihilate me

gradually, ruthlessly

I do not care.

I surrender without complaint,

nameless,

without future.

I will stay hush

in the corners of you memory,

if a promise of redemption

dares to keep me fed.

Whereas

I have to die,

let it be

-I rather-

underneath your

heterochromatic

sapphires.

* * *

DENOTE 

Lay down with me

on the Aleph of our lives.

Let me unravel

the strings,

all brain connections

quivering

between your fingers

and my womb.

I know you need to.

Let me unwrap

the future

now,

this time at night.

Show me how are you

going to turn love into

a new toy

for our wounded feet.

"What are we?"

Life dances all around.

Exhale what you want

from me,

that I will breathe all new

beings

for us both.

***

April is Jazz Appreciation Month. Tell us your favorite jazz recording or give us your top ten list of jazz records, and we will share your selection(s) with readers especially as we seek music to get us through the scourge of “19.”

New York poet Denise Bulger’s favorite jazz recording is Esther Satterfield’s, "Soft."

https://youtu.be/lro8u-6pjEY

Austin C. Morgan’s top ten jazz listing and essays are coming. Stay tuned!

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