Thomas Locicero’s most recent poem to appear here was “Belated Elegy” (September 2017)

Poem
By Thomas Locicero

You see a white flag of paper, blank
and empty as an anti-sky.
You may see my head lift quixotically
and then the reining in of thoughts.
You may see me bartering with the air:
a deep breath for a deep image.
You may even see my left fingers move
and know I’m counting syllables.
You may perceive to see what I believe
is an imperceptible bounce
as I grip for the accurate rhythm.
You may witness me writing in a cloud,
or you may see me culling for one word.
And you may see me suffering.
But that transparent page you think you see—
it already carries my words.
It is indented with trace marks I see.
My ink will fill them when the time is ripe;
it is not unlike a harvest,
and, like seeds, my paper will surrender.