Walking the sudden firstfall frost
the late days of late summer
the early days of early autumn
he parts the brown high pasture
grass with serpentine strides
breaking time in unnatural segments
he has been here for such long
his longing turns with the pottery
wheel of seasons his life shaped
by decisions he has made been made
in mornings such as this one carrying
himself across same/different fields
where Mountain Run weaves ways
of tall trees grown now gray barked
flame and gilt topped in the moment
as old earth pulls down each leg
flesh sagging into grave futures
he thought he’d embrace with grace
her face his smile their distant haze
in cities made of South and rising
tides of sunshine burning tiger bright
inventing a diary of mornings
fogbound hoary coated ghosts
cold hands remembering the ancient
frostbite of his youth mistaken
blowing Roland horns of mist through
blue fingers writing white words
visible in glows of sunrise he will
count one less on this horizon now
firstfallen frost gold gray in time
he must at last grace fall all out of…
Author Bio:
Born in Pennsylvania, David Anthony Sam is the proud grandson of peasant immigrants from Poland and Syria. For much of his life, he lived and worked in the Detroit area, graduating from Eastern Michigan University (BA, MA) and Michigan State (Ph.D.). He lives now in Virginia with his wife and life partner, Linda. Sam’s poetry has appeared in over 90 journals and publications and his poem, “First and Last,” won the 2018 Rebecca Lard Award. He has five published collections including Final Inventory (Prolific Press 2018) and Finite to Fail: Poems after Dickinson, the 2016 Grand Prize winner of the GFT Press Chapbook Contest. He currently teaches creative writing at Germanna Community College, from where he retired as President in 2017. He serves on the Board of the Virginia Poetry Society.
the late days of late summer
the early days of early autumn
he parts the brown high pasture
grass with serpentine strides
breaking time in unnatural segments
he has been here for such long
his longing turns with the pottery
wheel of seasons his life shaped
by decisions he has made been made
in mornings such as this one carrying
himself across same/different fields
where Mountain Run weaves ways
of tall trees grown now gray barked
flame and gilt topped in the moment
as old earth pulls down each leg
flesh sagging into grave futures
he thought he’d embrace with grace
her face his smile their distant haze
in cities made of South and rising
tides of sunshine burning tiger bright
inventing a diary of mornings
fogbound hoary coated ghosts
cold hands remembering the ancient
frostbite of his youth mistaken
blowing Roland horns of mist through
blue fingers writing white words
visible in glows of sunrise he will
count one less on this horizon now
firstfallen frost gold gray in time
he must at last grace fall all out of…
Author Bio:
Born in Pennsylvania, David Anthony Sam is the proud grandson of peasant immigrants from Poland and Syria. For much of his life, he lived and worked in the Detroit area, graduating from Eastern Michigan University (BA, MA) and Michigan State (Ph.D.). He lives now in Virginia with his wife and life partner, Linda. Sam’s poetry has appeared in over 90 journals and publications and his poem, “First and Last,” won the 2018 Rebecca Lard Award. He has five published collections including Final Inventory (Prolific Press 2018) and Finite to Fail: Poems after Dickinson, the 2016 Grand Prize winner of the GFT Press Chapbook Contest. He currently teaches creative writing at Germanna Community College, from where he retired as President in 2017. He serves on the Board of the Virginia Poetry Society.
RSS Feed