What's The Song Of Loneliness? by Taylor Graham
I'd like to thank poet Taylor Graham for this guest post. Enjoy!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
WHAT’S THE SONG OF LONELINESS?
I can sit alone but not lonely, with just the poem
of these Sierra woods, the crescendo/diminuendo
of a logging truck on Iron Mountain Road,
and then a woodpecker’s hollow cedar drum.
I think the song of loneliness must live
in a jukebox in a city where there are lots of people
to be lonely. A forest-poem is perfectly happy
in its music, without the fiddle of a Texas band.
But as I drive back down the mountain,
what do I see? Stopped on the eastbound shoulder
a brown sedan with radio turned way up high
and doors wide open, broadcasting country achy-
breaky. And in the middle of the solitude-bound lane,
two couples – ladies in swinging skirts and gents
in the shadow of their Stetsons – dancing that
lonesome partnered two-step right into my poem.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
WHAT’S THE SONG OF LONELINESS?
I can sit alone but not lonely, with just the poem
of these Sierra woods, the crescendo/diminuendo
of a logging truck on Iron Mountain Road,
and then a woodpecker’s hollow cedar drum.
I think the song of loneliness must live
in a jukebox in a city where there are lots of people
to be lonely. A forest-poem is perfectly happy
in its music, without the fiddle of a Texas band.
But as I drive back down the mountain,
what do I see? Stopped on the eastbound shoulder
a brown sedan with radio turned way up high
and doors wide open, broadcasting country achy-
breaky. And in the middle of the solitude-bound lane,
two couples – ladies in swinging skirts and gents
in the shadow of their Stetsons – dancing that
lonesome partnered two-step right into my poem.
Comments