Volume 16:1, Winter 2015
The Sonnet Issue
Crossings
My father-in-law knows his routes by heart,
his speed by the pitch of wheels on the road,
hauling loads of amesite and sand.
Hartford truck stops light his dark.
He knows of washed-out bridges, grease
under fingernails, clutch and release—
a life his son gave up for a southern city,
me. Suspender thin, with Woody Guthrie
voice and hawthorn-white beard,
he knows the weather’s hold:
clouds deploy in a flash or in silence recede.
John Deere tractors he’s bought and restored
congregate like cousins on his lawn.
I savor their green scent, ascend each throne.
Nancy Naomi Carlson is the recipient of grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Maryland Arts Council, and the Arts & Humanities Council of Montgomery County. Carlson is author of four books of poems and translator of six books from French to English, including An Infusion of Violets (Seagull Books, 2019), recently named a "New & Noteworthy" title by the New York Times Book Review. A senior translation editor for Tupelo Press, her work has appeared in APR, The Georgia Review, The Paris Review and Poetry. Her website: nancynaomicarlson.com/ To read more by this author: Summer 2005 issue