Michael J. ortiz

Michael J. Ortiz teaches writing at The Heights School in Potomac, Maryland. He is the author of two books. He and his wife have four children, all better educated than he is.

Dust and Light

Come with me,

we’re going further into

this witness,

this action that is and isn’t itself,

that creaks open

the door of time.

Once when a boy

I opened a tall cabinet

in our cellar:

it looked like a coffin standing

straight up,

with simple lines,

its door swung open as the morning

washed through windows near the ceiling

where tangles of pipes hung.

At once, dust exhaled from

fifty mason jars,

stilled in their embossed

and orderly rows.

I felt like a priest bringing one out,

holding it to the light,

its tiny sky now full

of sun.

Read Michael’s work and more in Solum Journal Volume III.