John J. Ronan
(Say)
For any relative in the photo, never a clue.
Arriving in (say) 1910, each
Knew the others by face and handshake, kiss.
Obvious truth didn’t deserve a note or name
On the back of the print, not with every road
In (say) the universe leading away from you.
Now, one uncle’s as good as another.
But they knew, think how hugely they knew.
Look to the moon for a second example. As today,
Shadows are crossing the basin of (say) Clavius –
Uncle or elm, the flower, the fox, all
Happily unwitnessed, perfectly themselves, nothing
To do with isolation or time, certainly not.
And it’s like that all around us. Almost everything.
John J. Ronan is a National Endowment for the Arts Fellow in Poetry, a former Ucross Fellow, Bread Loaf Scholar, and Poet Laureate of Gloucester, MA. His collection, Marrowbone Lane, appeared in 2010 and was a Highly Recommended selection of the Boston Authors Club. A new volume, Taking the Train of Singularity South from Midtown, appeared in 2017. Linda Pastan has called his work "Very good indeed: original, assured, just a touch sardonic." Poems have appeared in Confrontation, Folio, Threepenny Review, The Recorder, Hollins Critic, New England Review, Southern Poetry Review, Louisville Review, Greensboro Review, Notre Dame Review, NYQ, et. al. Find more here: TheRonan.org
Return to March 2021 Edition
For any relative in the photo, never a clue.
Arriving in (say) 1910, each
Knew the others by face and handshake, kiss.
Obvious truth didn’t deserve a note or name
On the back of the print, not with every road
In (say) the universe leading away from you.
Now, one uncle’s as good as another.
But they knew, think how hugely they knew.
Look to the moon for a second example. As today,
Shadows are crossing the basin of (say) Clavius –
Uncle or elm, the flower, the fox, all
Happily unwitnessed, perfectly themselves, nothing
To do with isolation or time, certainly not.
And it’s like that all around us. Almost everything.
John J. Ronan is a National Endowment for the Arts Fellow in Poetry, a former Ucross Fellow, Bread Loaf Scholar, and Poet Laureate of Gloucester, MA. His collection, Marrowbone Lane, appeared in 2010 and was a Highly Recommended selection of the Boston Authors Club. A new volume, Taking the Train of Singularity South from Midtown, appeared in 2017. Linda Pastan has called his work "Very good indeed: original, assured, just a touch sardonic." Poems have appeared in Confrontation, Folio, Threepenny Review, The Recorder, Hollins Critic, New England Review, Southern Poetry Review, Louisville Review, Greensboro Review, Notre Dame Review, NYQ, et. al. Find more here: TheRonan.org
Return to March 2021 Edition