First week of twentieth year

of new semesters. Brittlely 

fragile gleam of mischief

adjacent younglings, by

U.S. Empire hollowed 

out. Unable, perhaps—

else unwilling—wakeful 

to remain despite the glare.

J.M.Hall, nominated by the editors of Verdad literary journal for the 16th annual Best of the Net Anthology, and selected as a “Poet of the Week” by Poetry Super Highway, has published 107 poems in literary journals, including North Dakota Quarterly, and Grub Street. With a PhD in Philosophy from Vanderbilt University, he has also published 80 peer-reviewed journal articles, five of which have recently been republished in Spanish translation, and coedited Philosophy Imprisoned: The Love of Wisdom in the Age of Mass Incarceration. Finally, he has thirty years’ experience in dance.