Joy
- Joy
All of our observations find a complete symmetry between matter and antimatter, which is why the universe should not actually exist.
—Dr. Christian Smorra, CERN scientist
Once I foundwhere a deer hadnested in the deep woods,not the deer,only its deer-shapedindentation in the grass.I traced its nose,its flank still quiveringto shoo away the flies,the imprint of one hoof.There had been anunexplainable lifehere. I rememberholdingmy breathso as not to scare awaythe memory of sleepand walking softlyand quietly, like leavingan empty church.Today I’ll movethrough thisfierce wild almostand exult that nothingshould bebut is. [End Page 47]
Adam Hughes is the author of four full-length poetry collections, most recently Allow the Stars to Catch Me When I Rise (2017) and Deep Cries Out to Deep (2017). Born and raised in central Ohio, he now resides in the foothills of Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains, where he is pursuing an MFA at Randolph College. Should you google him, he is not the Adam Hughes who draws near-pornographic depictions of female superheroes. This particular Adam Hughes cannot draw.
