November 2015
Sonia Greenfield
sonia.greenfield@gmail.com
sonia.greenfield@gmail.com
I live in the port area of Los Angeles with my husband, son, and dog, and I teach writing at USC. My first book of poems, Boy with a Halo at the Farmer's Market won the 2014 Codhill Book Prize. I'm in the process of assembling PhD applications because, at 45 years old, I'm still trying to figure out what I'm going to do when I grow up. In the meantime, I'm building up my vita at soniagreenfield.com
Rain, Steam, and Speed
based on the painting by J.M.W. Turner (1833)
Turner’s homage to man-made sublime
reminds we build our own demise. Where do
you picture yourself in the scene? In the two men
afloat in their row boat, in the figures drawn en masse
to Maidenhead Bridge, in the engine’s hot mechanisms,
in smudges of creosote, in the trail of cars
disappeared by perspective, in the steel London sky,
in what the Thames floats by, reflecting the saffron
and ash of industry? Sometimes you can see me
if you look close. I’m trying to out-run the beast.
In front of what bears down the trestle, unable
to slow. That brown hare, barely there
with only one way to go.
reminds we build our own demise. Where do
you picture yourself in the scene? In the two men
afloat in their row boat, in the figures drawn en masse
to Maidenhead Bridge, in the engine’s hot mechanisms,
in smudges of creosote, in the trail of cars
disappeared by perspective, in the steel London sky,
in what the Thames floats by, reflecting the saffron
and ash of industry? Sometimes you can see me
if you look close. I’m trying to out-run the beast.
In front of what bears down the trestle, unable
to slow. That brown hare, barely there
with only one way to go.
©2015 Sonia Greenfield