by Virginia Watts
Poem published by Sunbeam Anthology
First Place Winner of the Joan Ramseyer Poetry Contest
From the publisher:
Why I chose “Choose a Memory to Keep”…
Poetry for me has always been about eliciting emotion more than logic. This poem made me instantly feel. While it reminds me subtly of Dylan Thomas’s villanelle “Do not go gentle into that good night,” it is more hopeful, filled not with rage against the dying light, but joy. Watts’ line “There will always be enough time” is not literally accurate as moments and people cease, but she successfully tacks a memory on the wall of her life, elongating time. I can see myself, family, friends and neighbors inhabiting this poem. When a writer can transcend beyond their own experience to the life of another, then they have truly done something great. Thank you Virginia. —Brett Ramseyer
Choose a Memory to Keep
Summer nightfall, but not yet
Light searing off its last energy
a blaze of orange ember igniting
the high up things, sun sudden
on a plane wing casting igneous
gold over glass panes
attic windows next door
tree tops greener
than they really are
Summer nightfall, but not yet
Dogs bark, howl, doors bang
neighbors calling for barefoot kids
chlorine-haired, shoulders sunburned
playing hide and seek on cooling grass
tongues blue, red, Fla-Vor-Ice sleeves
emptied, abandoned on porch steps
teeming with happy, black ants
Summer nightfall, but not yet
Cricket engines humming through mesh
screens, outside shapes, rooflines, chimneys
lightning rods, swing sets, charcoal grills
standing on stilt legs peering over ditches
Even as stars break through, tremble
It doesn’t feel like the end
There will always be enough time
to be a part of this summer nightfall
There will always be enough light left
in a backdrop sky to find this place
And I will always know
exactly where I am
Copyright © 2019 Virginia Watts. All rights reserved.