9/6/2026
Brian Eckert
silence greets meat the corner
gutters fill the leaves
I still cannot accept the earth
and no one will accept me at this hour
at this hour I am the exception
a semi-permanent cairn
rethinks permanence
it was not born here
it will die elsewhere
stone fence
metal sieve
podium of waste
vacant thoroughfare
world of worlds
dirt strewn across pavement
tunnel into garden
dirt into home
home into earth
earth into world
this embodied past
has no future
I feel the end
like I feel the cliff-
edge pulling me down
into the death over-drive
Your Parking Journey Starts Here ❤
‡‡
BRIAN ECKERT is a PhD candidate in English at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville. He has been a bartender, farm hand, fry cook, landscaper, and substitute teacher. Brian was born and raised in rural Indiana before attending Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. In 2019, Brian was diagnosed with leukemia and spent several years undergoing intensive chemotherapy treatments, while also completing undergrad, and then starting and finishing a Master’s of Liberal Arts degree at Johns Hopkins University in May of 2022. He lives in Fayetteville and enjoys driving through the mountains and visiting every used bookstore.
