Grass-blades in the beak of the sparrow –
this life going on and on.
Night, and the standing waters furrow
the embankment stone.
Shadow of torch smoke
floats across the shore’s
abandoned wrack. Town-folk
in the plaza rise: a Virginia reel
and the relentless chorus
of a paddlewheel.
– after Montale
Steve Kronen lives in Miami. His new collection, Homage to Mistress Oppenheimer, will be published by Eyewear in March.
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This article appears in the 03 Jan 2018 issue of the New Statesman, Young vs Old