Nightlight
Out there the dark,
in here the light
of my trusty desk lamp,
the kind architects used to use
when sitting at tilted boards
wrestling right angles
from thin air
with their bare hands.
Someday, I’ll be brave.
Ditch this modern life,
step out into the pitch black
and take the only road:
the one that leads
to the moon-white creek
and then, in a straight line,
to forever.
9 thoughts on "Nightlight"
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I love the use of architectural words, lines, angles, as a through thread in this piece
This is so good.
The architects in 1st stanza
simple beauty in 2nd
with the wistful “Someday.”
Yes and guess what,
we’re all headed to an unplugged life.
There you go again, Bill! You’ve been on fire this whole damn month. It’s a wonder you haven’t been reduced to ashes. 😏
Agreeing with Kevin! The direction this poem takes is confident even though it goes into the undefinable “forever.” I’m going with you!
I like how the poem springs from the specific lamp–“the kind architects used to use / when sitting at tilted boards”–foreshadowed in the title
Love:
wrestling right angles
from thin air
with their bare hands.
the only road:
the one that leads
to the moon-white creek
I love how the two stanzas relate and contrast at the same time.
I want to go to the moon-white creek too, and then forever.
Thanks for that image
Bill, I can’t wait to see what’s next – there’s an incredible anticipation and utter lack of intellectual completion coupled with soul satisfaction in this poem’s ending that is soooo your signature, soooo your VOICE. You’re killing it year after year.