Suggested Entries for a Diary
J.R. Solonche
1.
Tonight you should write
that this morning
you looked in the mirror
and thought
you saw yourself
but didn't.
2.
Tonight you should write
that today
was an experiment that failed.
The sky was gray and sour.
A fine shower of almost-rain
fell like slow sediment
to the bottom
of your expectation.
3.
Tonight you should write
that this afternoon
a solitary crow,
bewitching an oak
the color of bricks,
left the highest stick
with the sound
of cracking in its throat.
4.
Tonight you should write
that at dusk
the sun,
bleeding from its knees,
crawled like a pilgrim
down the cobblestones of clouds
toward dark.
5.
Tonight you should write
that tonight
your life
is cracked in many places
but does not bleed,
that tomorrow
the mirror will be clear
and you will be there.
Nominated for the National Book Award and nominated three times for the Pulitzer Prize, J.R. Solonche is the author of 34 books of poetry and coauthor of another. He lives in the Hudson Valley.