How I Might Sound if I Left Myself Alone

How I Might Sound if I Left Myself Alone

By Lisa Russ Spaar
Turning to watch you leave,
I see we must always walk toward

other loves, river of   heaven
between two office buildings.

Orphaned cloud, fish soup poppling,
book spined in the open palm. Unstoppable light.

I think it is all right.
Or do tonight, garden toad

a speaking stone,
young sound in an old heart.

Annul the self? I float it,
a day lily in my wine. Oblivion?

I love our lives,
keeping me from it.

Source: Poetry (February 2013).

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This poem originally appeared in the February 2013 issue of Poetry magazine

February 2013

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Lisa Russ Spaar

Biography

Lisa Russ Spaar's most recent book of poems is Vanitas, Rough (December 2012).  A collection of her essays, The Hide-and-Seek Muse:  Annotations of Contemporary Poetry, is due out in March 2013.  Her awards include a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Weinstein Award for Poetry, the Library of Virginia Award, and a Rona Jaffe Award for Emerging Women Writers. Spaar is a professor at the University of Virginia.

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Poems by Lisa Russ Spaar

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Poem Categorization

SUBJECT Living, Life Choices, The Mind, Love, Heartache & Loss

Poetic Terms Free Verse

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