“Beautiful Grief” by Jason Brightwell

You wore your grey fate 
perfectly—laughter, 
golden touch. It was a show, 

of course. Even as tiny

hope waved over private 
blue melancolia,

it stirred up a sludge,
lingering at bottom’s black.

You and I knew it.

We ached in private.
Mine, a pinwheel of gloom, 
yours, somehow, a rainbow 
of beautiful grief.


Jason Brightwell lives in a tiny resort town tucked away on the shore of Maryland’s Chesapeake Bay where he finds himself routinely haunted by one thing or another. His work has appeared or is forthcoming in journals including: Gravel Magazine, Phantom Kangaroo, and The Tower Journal, among others.

Image Credit

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.