Pandemonium

JIM LAVILLA-HAVELIN

April 24, 2020

general chaos, wild disorder, distinctly askew  -

this world I thought I knew

in torpor of lock down I wonder how it sits

with M. , who went from being

locked up 

to this free, locked down, held in place, 

sentence without period

time without boundary

and the only hope any of us have – 

good behavior

JIM LAVILLA-HAVELIN is the author of five books of poetry. The most recent, WEST, poems of a place, was published by Wings Press in 2017. LaVilla-Havelin is the Coordinator of National Poetry Month in San Antonio, the Poetry Editor for the San Antonio Express-News/Houston Chronicle, and a teacher, critic, and community arts activist. He was the City of San Antonio’s 2019 honoree with the Distinction in the Arts Award for Literary Arts.