Twilight, and the light follows the sound of a plane west.
The sound fades away, and the light fades after it.
It is pulled, unwilling to leave, and it turns while leaving.
All there is to hear is the water and the birds.
But the sound of the water is not the voice of the water only.
On the tongue of the water is also the voice of the culvert.
And the sound of the birds is not the sound of the birds only.
In the mouths of the birds is also the voice of the empty road.
——
Professor Emeritus of English at SUNY Orange, J.R. Solonche has been publishing poems in magazines and anthologies (more than 400) since the early 70s. He is author of Beautiful Day (Deerbrook Editions), Won’t Be Long (Deerbrook Editions), Heart’s Content (chapbook from Five Oaks Press), Invisible (nominated for the Pulitzer Prize by Five Oaks Press), The Black Birch (Kelsay Books), I, Emily Dickinson & Other Found Poems (Deerbrook Editions), In Short Order (Kelsay Books), Tomorrow, Today & Yesterday (Deerbrook Editions), and coauthor of Peach Girl: Poems for a Chinese Daughter (Grayson Books). He lives in the Hudson Valley.