Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, ACROSS THE STREET, by IOANNA CARLSEN


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

ACROSS THE STREET, by                    
First Line: Watching that empty house / at night, its second story


Watching that empty house
at night, its second story
left lit up by workers,
you get a sense of what you might see
in those windows, though at the moment,
no one actually appears.

In here the clock ticks,
regular as breath, clicks
like an idea inside a head,
until you do see in those airy rooms
feet, and hands,
groping up the personal,

and then whole bodies like planets
drifting toward - just missing each other -
ascending to meet
what has already gone down
a back stair.

Life leaking into compartments,
the universe expecting you,
the one who will cross the street
and trudge up there,
carrying bags full of useful goods,
nudging the door
open with a toe:

your arrival the perception
that the furniture's
already piled on the sidewalk
and you will be leaving with only a body
containing your life.


Copyright © Ioanna Carlsen.
http://www.unl.edu/schooner/psmain.htm
Prairie Schooner is a literary quarterly published since 1927 which
publishes original stories, poetry, essays, and reviews. Regularly cited in the
prize journals, the magazine is considered one of the most prestigious of the
campus-based literary journals.






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