Jason M. Thornberry’s work appears in The Los Angeles Review of Books, Soundings East, Harbor Review, The Antonym, TAB: The Journal of Poetry & Poetics, Broadkill Review, and elsewhere. His work examines family, disability, and social justice. Jason holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Chapman University.
Photography by P. M. Chatelain
Wide Awake in an Empty Motel
Into December night, I drag a
Suitcase full of unopened presents
Over scars in the broken road.
Fugitive from drunken wrath, I
Find an empty motel beside
A teeming freeway.
Eleven-hundred miles from home is
A stiff bed with stiffer sheets. Scuffed
suitcase against the wall.
Heart pounding, I peel the curtain
Peering into the vacant,
Bewildering dark.
Where is the moon? Looming in its
Place, a glittering Denny’s sign
Beckons. And so,
With a cup of coffee, in a
Booth by the door, I hold my
Journal tight, and I struggle to
Keep the senseless December night at
Bay. If I capture it on the page,
Can I turn my back on it?
Returning at last to my room,
I pull the curtains together,
Searching in crevices and corners
For elusive sleep, your voice
Still echoing like broken glass.
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By In Parentheses in Volume 10
48 pages, published 10/15/2025
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