John Stanizzi
Walking into a Dreamed City with My Love
When the state spat
we considered
jumping from the rusted bridge
onto the devoted ice
surging in huge obedient formation
I have since thought about that day
with its broad draperies of snow
fragrant and confusing
amid the hidden kingdoms
their bells on fire
their shadows inconceivable
My heart folded
rolled into a dream pattern
before what had tried to hold us back
had time to invade our eyes
blaspheme our ears
waste our day
No I recall
we were focused on
mysterious interruptions
featherless bones in the chill air
spires emerging from the fog
demented menaces horrendous
relentless in their desire to pierce the sky
and let all that dark
bleed through
as we tried to escape the city
the state
John L. Stanizzi is author of the full-length collections Ecstasy Among Ghosts (), Sleepwalking(), Dance Against the Wall (), After the Bell(), Hallelujah Time!(), and High Tide – Ebb Tide(). His poems have appeared in journals including Prairie Schooner, American Life in Poetry, The New York Quarterly, Paterson Literary Review, The Cortland Review, and many others. Stanizzi teaches literature at Manchester Community College in Manchester, CT, and he lives with his wife, Carol, in Coventry.
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