My Chair
I have placed my chair between
the woods and the feeder, in
the middle of the flight path
of the birds. I want the chickadees
and titmice, the cardinals and
nuthatches to fly above me, to fly
to my right and to my left, to whiz
within inches of my head. I want
to hear the beating of their wings as
they speed by. I want to close my
eyes. I want to feel the sun warm
on my face and on my eyes. I want
to feel the sun warm on their wings
and on the sound of their wings and
on the soft strength of the breathing
of their wings. I want to imagine
what the next world, the world that
I know does not exist, must sound like.
Nominated for the National Book Award and twice-nominated for the Pulitzer Prize, J.R. Solonche is the author of twenty-four books of poetry, most recently Selected Poems 2002-2021 (Serving House Books, 2021), and coauthor of another. He lives in the Hudson Valley.