Primal
The Secular Among Us
My wife stares through me
the way one waits
for a prescription to fill.
Why I vanish over breakfast–
eggs and bacon–or later
beneath the sci-fi of stars
is difficult to say. Please
I swear, though it’s clear
she cannot hear me,
like the secular among us
who continue to pray.
Jared Harél is the author of the poetry collection, Go Because I Love You (Diode Editions, 2018). He’s been awarded the ‘Stanley Kunitz Memorial Prize’ from American Poetry Review, the ‘William Matthews Poetry Prize’ from Asheville Poetry Review, and two 'Artist Grants' from Queens Council on the Arts. New poems have recently appeared in APR, Arts & Letters, Harvard Review Online, New Ohio Review, Ploughshares and Threepenny Review. Harél lives in Queens, NY with his wife and two kids.