For National Poetry Month I was thinking about posting one of my old poems (normal length, not tweets). I procrastinated, busy with other projects, and now with just a few days left I sifted through poems, undecided, changing my mind until at the very end I found the beginning: the first poem I sold. It was published in the now-defunct literary magazine Cedar Rock in 1980 (I think). I was paid the princely sum of $2.

Alex

Photo by Ainy Rainwater

You sat in a straight-backed chair
In a sleepless dream,
Leaning slightly into the light
From the window,
Filling out a space,
Taking in air—
A solemn pine tree—
Not even aware I was with you.

I knew
You were standing
With limbs outstretched,
Needles whipstitching the clouds to the sky,
In a cool forgotten forest somewhere,
An incessantly babbling brook nearby.