Lindsay Turner

POEM FOR THE NEW YEAR

where has it gone, my booming voice
I wanted to take it with me through the streets

where has it gone, the train I took
I wanted to lie down in the sharp snowy sticks by the tracks

see how each line demonstrates the subjunctive:
“I wished I were somewhere other than”

& that a willow tree might be recovered
from remembering the real structure of place, down
to the lime-green leaves which are now getting away from me

that it might be a long day without spectacle
in the teeth of the forces we made

some room for the seasons we knew waiting out the year
with a phone charger a parking space somewhere to stash your dog while you wait

& crossing the coasts to the other one often
& waiting at the light while the sky went terrifically blank
& waiting for the light when the first bird starts like a social ghost

LINDSAY TURNER is the author of Songs & Ballads (Prelude) and the translator of several books of Francophone poetry and philosophy, including work by Ryoko Sekiguchi, Frédéric Neyrat, and Stéphane Bouquet. She lives in Greenville, South Carolina.