Poet’s Corner-June 10, 2022

Every Friday, James Blevins, this newspaper’s in-house reporter and poet—who has seen his work previously published in “Salt Hill Journal,” “Pretty Owl Poetry,” “Stoneboat Journal,” “Mud Season Review” and “AZURE,” as well as numerous other outlets both online and in print—chooses one poem for publication.

Additionally, Blevins will share a poem of his own, just for good measure, at the end of each calendar month.

The Moonlight

By Yvor Winters

I waited on

In the late autumn moonlight,

A train droning out of thought—

The mind on moonlight

And on trains.

Blind as a thread of water

Stirring through a cold like dust,

Lonely beyond all silence

And humming this to children,

The nostalgic listeners in sleep,

Because no guardian

Strides through distance upon distance,

His eyes a web of sleep.

Yvor Winters, born on October 17, 1900 in Chicago, was a poet, critic and professor. He was the author of many books, including his “Collected Poems” (Swallow Press, 1960), which won the 1962 Bollingen Prize, and “Secession no. 7” (Winter, 1924), where the above poem first appeared. Winters died on January 25, 1968.