The 27th of January, 2017 D. R. James Poetry

local_library The 27th of January, 2017

by D. R. James

Published in Issue No. 255 ~ August, 2018
 

after Kinnel

 

A Friday (the day of Frigg,

Norse goddess of wisdom)

that sags gray as brains, the

day closing this long week

since an uncertain absurdity

began to un-settle itself in—

(blurting like boils from under

maize-ish, cirrocumular mesh,

ranting, being ranted, mouthing

black smoke, inhaling black hearts,

splaying deal-breakers like pollutants

burping out over America First factories,

self-delusional centrifugal ellipticals)—continues,

so a four-year interim begins: protest marches, opinion polls,

endless petitions, reorganizations, reactions, confrontations, wiser

fights, phone calls, letter blitzes—but, also, through-it-all candid accord?

account_box More About

D. R. James has been teaching writing, literature, and peace-making at Hope College in Holland, Michigan, for 33 years and lives in the woods east of Saugatuck. Poetry and prose have appeared in a variety of journals and anthologies, and his newest of seven poetry collections are If god were gentle (Dos Madres Press, 2017) and the chapbooks Split-Level and Why War (both Finishing Line Press, 2017 and 2014). When not cycling with his wife, psychotherapist Suzy Doyle, he divides his free time between staring at the woods from a recliner and staring at the woods from a deck chair.