Nancy Scott Verse-Virtual 2017 May

May 2017

I am the author of nine books of poetry but it was my first and second books that give me the most pleasure, because I was new at writing poetry and overwhelmed that someone wanted to publish it. This poem deals with loss and uncertainty, universal themes, and given the many difficult political headwinds we face today, the poem for me takes on a special meaning. My most recent book, Ah, Men (Aldrich Press, 2016), a retrospective of men who have influenced my life, is more optimistic. Yeah! www.nancyscott.net

Summer

An elderly woman
sits alone on a bench at the bus stop,
waiting for something, maybe the 609,
maybe her dead husband.
We all wait for the sun.

Incessant rain has sent small stones
and dirt clods tumbling down
the embankment in my backyard.
I can feel my house inch
closer to extinction.

Last summer, people complained
about drought, stunted corn,
impassable spots in the river.
Dry needles flared across acres.
We longed to hear rain beating on the roof.

Everywhere there is excess.
No hope to change the progress of the wind.
It will blow away the clouds or won’t.
I am stitching squares
for my granddaughter’s quilt.

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