WHAT I SHOULD DO NEXT
What I Should Do Next
by howie good
At the reunion
someone
said someone
was dead.
I look in the mirror.
A stranger’s face,
pale and impassive,
looks back.
I should turn up
the Bach sonata.
I should set fire
to the prairie.
Every night
I should lie down
and travel out
along the black branches
of the interstate
and return
to the same address –
a room full of light,
bread and knife
on the table,
and a weepy bride
shrouded in the glare
of a sunny window.
this is good. The first four lines narrow the context, then the tangentially related response – mirror and stranger, etc – sets the ball rolling as a reaction to the context. In the end, the poem opens up further questions, extending the reader’s relationship beyond the reading. The images that make up the poem are down to earth, but also tend to extend beyond their words. I like it.
I agree. And that picture. . .