Wind by Robert Okaji

 

Image | Philip Justin Mamelic

Wind

That it shudders through

and presages an untimely end,

that it transforms the night’s

body and leaves us 

breathless and wanting,

petals strewn about,

messenger and message in one,

corporeal hosts entwined,

that it moves, that it blends, 

that it withdraws and returns without

remorse, without forethought, that it

increases, expands, subtracts,

renders, imposes and releases

in one quick breath, saying

I cannot feel but I touch,

I cannot feel.

Initially published in The Blue Hour Magazine, and included in Robert Okaji's first full-length collection, Our Loveliest Bruises (3: A Taos Press, 2025).

© Robert Okaji

Robert Okaji

Two years ago, Robert Okaji was diagnosed with late-stage metastatic lung cancer, which he found annoying. But thanks to modern science, he's still living in Indianapolis with his wife—poet Stephanie L. Harper—stepson, cat, and dog. Recent publications include Our Loveliest Bruises (3: A Taos Press, 2025) and His Windblown Self (Broadstone Books, 2025).

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