If Lot’s wife were not a silent pillar of salt,
it would behoove her to get together

with Orpheus and compare notes
about that uncontrollable urge

to look back, which, I’m sure, he still
regrets and which she did at that seam

between animal—and mineral long since
washed away by millennia of rain

or the tongues of a million beasts seeking
in the desert dry and heat a rare lick—

              but forget those petrified by Medusa’s
              puss for they were facing forward,

              with not forewarning, no chance to rue,
              no choice and thus no rubbering neck—

Let’s keep this club for second thoughts,
if it could be, ruing the reality,

and rehashing what might have been

John Zedolik has published poems in many journals in the U.S. and around the world. In 2019, he published a full-length collection, entitled Salient Points and Sharp Angles (WordTech Editions), which is available through Amazon. In 2021, he published his second collection, entitled When the Spirit Moves Me (Wipf & Stock), which is spiritually-themed and also available through Amazon. Earlier this year, he published Mother Mourning, which is also available on Amazon.