Thomas Locicero’s most recent poem to appear here was “On Lagos Lagoon” (May 2017)
Alaska
after Theodore Roethke
By Thomas Locicero
As the world pulls me west,
I feel I’m leaving Earth;
Each mooring, quay, and berth
Now day while I am night,
Though destined not to rest
On linen or on lace
But ‘neath the spire trees
And in the northern mist.
Never has my sight
Engaged in such a place.
It cuts me to my knees,
Instructs me how to feel,
Then through the fog, a curve
That introduces steel
Designed to steal each nerve
And dare your fist to swing.
The sky is dull, yet bright
And sinks not in ravines
But still sustains a light
And chooses not to pass.
It introduces pain
Through incidental rain,
Each drop a glint of glass
A jagged winter’s stone,
Its wind a playful shove
This sunlit summer night
That confiscates your love.