Poetry by Braden Hofeling

Nothing has distance,
I think as I stare skyward,
celestial blue connected to fluffy white,
stars, suns, planets, courses set.
Even the wind, my ruffled hair–the current connects.
Everything in my world touches
one another, branching into a singular something,
inescapable as the tides that turn
craggy shoreline into ocean floor.
I wonder if I flung myself into space, into
the furthest reaches of the black cosmos,
could anything touch me there?
Could people still wrap me into a word,
binding me to this claustrophobic sphere?


Braden Hofeling is an emerging poet located in Portland, Oregon. He has two self-published collections of poetry and is hoping to publish his third book through an independent small press.