We are so thrilled to publish these poems by James Sallis and Brock Eldon, which wrestle with human observation, the power of thought, and the limbo of our daily lives.
—The Editors
The Cost of Thought
What I find
speared
on my fork is not
what was on my plate.
I fear
there’s been a mistake,
a miscalculation.
Each morning
I fast-walk
past camouflaged shelters
where
yesterday’s heroes hide from us.
In a better world
I would fall up
to meet this sweet rain
halfway.
James Sallis’ novel, Sarah Jane, was released in late 2023, and his most recent book, Bright Segments: The Complete Short Fiction, was released late last year. His sixth poetry collection is planned for 2027.Departure Gate
Airports are where belief in progress still survives.
Everyone queues for a miracle:
transformation by departure.
The body submits to metal detectors,
the soul to delay.
Screens whisper your name in code.
You move when they tell you—
toward light, toward air.
In line, we are equal for a moment:
bare feet on cold tile,
belts coiled in gray trays,
hoping our faces match our passports.
Progress, that old faith, hums overhead.
A voice assures us the future
is only a boarding group away.
We enter the tunnel,
sealed and humming,
and rise—
believers all—
into the myth of elsewhere.
Brock Eldon writes Null Point and The Commonplace Book on Substack. His nonfiction will appear in the upcoming March issue of Salmagundi, and his poetry collection Dominion Ashes: A Book of Decline is forthcoming from Ballerini Books Press in February 2026. | A guest post by
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Two very good poems