Splittin' the Country Down the Middle?

Though it may not be as exciting as buying a whole ghost town in Iowa, I was quite pleased to receive an offer from Florida State University this week. Perhaps I'm not supposed to say anything, but anyone who knows me knows that I cannot be quiet for more than a few seconds at a time, so keeping a secret isn't going to happen. Dr. Coutley? Probably. Tallahassee? Lookin' good.

As a reward for hard work, I decided to give myself the afternoon to lay on the couch and read. I thought I'd revisit Adrienne Rich's Diving into the Wreck, since I'm so intrigued by some of the poems there, as well as the metaphor of my own wreck. Although it doesn't speak too highly of the book, I fell asleep reading "Song" and then had a strange little dream about a poem I wrote from one of the lines within (well, a partial line-steal, really). So, with my future beachside babe, Anna, in mind, I'm sharing:

Song

You're wondering if I'm lonely:
OK then, yes, I'm lonely
as a plane rides lonely and level
on its radio beam, aiming
across the Rockies
for the blue-strung aisles
of an airfield on the ocean

You want to ask, am I lonely?
Well, of course, lonely
as a woman driving across country
day after day, leaving behind
mile after mile
little towns she might have stopped
and lived and died in, lonely

If I'm lonely
it must be the loneliness
of waking first, of breathing
dawn's first cold breath on the city
of being the one awake
in a house wrapped in sleep

If I'm lonely
it's with a rowboat ice-fast on the shore
in the last red light of the year
that knows what it is, that knows it's neither
ice nor mud nor winter light
but wood, with a gift for burning.

****

When I think of leaving the UP, I'm both sad and so happy I can't even begin to describe it. I've seen the sky in the water and the water in the sky and even though the lake has been one of the greatest loves of my life (I know, this is a strange admission), it's time to go. Still, I can leave you with another picture. And, I'm sure, more to come before the big move.



*****