Coherence – a poem by Jenna Wysong-Filbrun

Coherence

After sedation, I wake up in a chapel. My love
has come swelling out of me to fill
the makeshift room of block walls
and curtains like a haze that curls
around us as we sit here, spiriting.
I see us as we are—a Whole of parts—
me in the bed with my heart
beeping through the machines
as I open my eyes, my beloved
in the chair holding me together
along with my purse, the dogs 
at home keeping watch 
by the window—all here in the vapor. 
Even the saltine cracker crumb
on the floor has always been The Body.
It feels like heartbreak and sunrise
and thunder and a drop of rain
falling from the tip of an open flower. 
Like in a dream, I know the layers of being 
through which Love flows unchecked.
If I hold your hand, it is because Love 
carries your pain with you. Listen,
we are always here in the arms of Time—
distinct and one, healed past healing,
loved entirely, beyond knowing.

Jenna Wysong Filbrun is the author of the poetry collection, Running Toward Water, forthcoming from Shanti Arts in 2026. Her poems have appeared in Blue Heron Review, Deep Wild Journal, ONE ART, and other publications. She practices poetry to deepen her awareness of connection and loves to spend time at home and in the wild with her husband, Mike, and their dogs, Oliver and Lewis. Find her on Substack @jennawysongfilbrun or on Instagram @jwfilbrun.