What's in the Air
by Liz Rosenberg
1 It's not disaster
2 ---something shaken from the trees
3 when loneliness like this comes drifting down.
4 I see it on faces;
5 a window in every house sealed blue with late t.v.
6 as father's car rolls like a summons through the snow.
7 The new rage is religion
8 or the blackened end of the world---our longing
9 to be saved becomes revenge.
10 Brooding or troubled spirit,
11 where in the world are you hiding, in what motel
12 of past life, keeping fresh at whose expense?
13 Spring bumbles in
14 with flowering, chilly rains bright
15 over the yellow wands of willows
16 as some man touches
17 his console set to let a little light in
18 on his gloomy gathering of chairs.
19 He stares into the street
20 and his homesick thought drums like a wave
21 in that sea of faith lit up above the ghostly, neon world.
[from The Fire Music (1986): University of Pittsburgh Press]
Copyright © 1986, Liz Rosenberg.
Reproduced for personal use only: do not circulate.