American Life in Poetry
Jonathan Greene, who lives in Kentucky, is a master of the short poem, but while he prunes them down to their essentials he never cuts out the wonder and delight. Here’s a good example from his most recent book. Can you feel the exclamation point that’s suggested at the end? You can’t see it, but it’s there.
One Light to Another
The storm
turns off
the lights.
The lightning
lights the whereabouts
of the flashlight.
The flashlight
takes us to matches
and candles, the oil lamp.
Now we’re back,
revisiting
the 19th century.
Poem copyright 2013 by Jonathan Greene, from his most recent book of poems, “Seeking Light: New & Selected Later Poems” (Broadstone Books, 2013) and reprinted by permission of the author and publisher. American Life in Poetry is supported by The Poetry Foundation and the English department at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. We do not accept unsolicited manuscripts.