Vox Populi
A curated webspace for Poetry, Politics, and Nature with over 6,000,000 visitors since 2014 and over 9,000 archived posts.
Sean Sexton: Heavenward
An orange glow back-lights the sky before dawn
with approaching newness made of blue. The world
still drips from a perfect midafternoon rain arriving
yesterday to carry into dark. The moon is a morning
saucer pouring itself high into open sky; suggests
hidden hands and an upturned bedpan as Venus
keeps her distance in seeming embarrassment.
They’ll reunite later.
It’s been a month since our last coupling—travel
and illness intervening—yet we still know what
to do; modesty long past. Fields have grown full.
My face presses against your softness as if you
were a small, amiable planet barely visible in dim
light. How I drank in and swallowed your warmth,
straightened out your legs to behold and grasp your
tiny feet as if handling a lovely pair of shoes; every-
thing as I remember.
Afterward, little goes spoken between us. We rise,
bathe and dress, soon to leave one another, and
disappear into light.
~~~~
Copyright 2026 Sean Sexton
Sean Sexton was born and raised on his family’s Treasure Hammock Ranch and divides his time between writing, painting, and managing a 700-acre cow-calf and seed stock operation. He is author of Blood Writing: Poems (Anhinga Press); May Darkness Restore: Poems and Portals: Poems (Press 53).
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This is one of your very, very best, dear Sean — what a love poem, and what love for so much. Palpable, as Christine says, palpable & generous, deeply quiet and of loving gratitude, & celestial too, this poem! Thank you, Sean & Michael.
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Underlying all of Sean’s poems is a reverence for nature, for imagination, for memory and for people. I aspire to be as open to love as he is….
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Thankyou so much Christine. We comprise the early morning “shift” in commentary don’t we? Are you a farm girl originally?
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No Sean, not a farm girl. Just an early riser (one who usually starts her day with coffee and Vox Populi).
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Sean, what a beautiful poem. I took the time to read it aloud, tasting the music of the words, letting them fill the air. The love in this poem is palpable.
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