BY STEPHEN ROBERTS
Copyright is held by the author.
it begins in the anxious light of dawn
driving to the station in the shifting grey
scanning the road for a flash of brown
darting for the treeline
trying to avoid the swerve
and crash
and then the train itself —
full of people smiling
beneath their masks
each listening
for the tell-tale cough
arriving in the city
there is peril all around
careering taxis
tumbling cranes
crumbling cornices that crack
off antique buildings and fall
exploding manholes flinging shrapnel,
or else a geyser spew of scalding steam
and if you make it to the office
you survey the skies
for errant planes
and whirlybirds,
and wait expectantly
for the alarm
then, at end of day
you do it
all again
only this time
in reverse
my biggest fear
is driving home
to find an empty house
and you gone
a note abandoned
on the table
telling me
the last dinner
is in the microwave
waiting
to be nuked
Stephen Roberts is a retired attorney currently pursuing an MFA in Creative Writing (Poetry) at Sarah Lawrence College. His work has appeared, or will be appearing, in Pinch Journal, EPOCH, Slant, Gargoyle, Blue Unicorn, and Poetry Salzburg Review, among others. He was recently long listed for 2024 Palette Poetry Rising Poet Prize. His home is in Dutchess County, New York.
I like the way you’ve used so many short lines to convey the worry, the nervousness. Then the 4 longer lines that weigh down further worries. The last word is so explosive in sound and meaning, really effective.