17 Dec “The Spaciousness of Dark” by Susan Dworski Nusbaum
It’s easy to feel crowded, when daylight reveals
stains on the upholstery, piles of unfinished papers,
flowers in need of tossing. Even the hiss of water
inside the pipes, whoosh of cars careening toward the river,
consume hours on the clock, shrinking days crammed
with occurrences, tasks requiring attention.
But in the night-dark every shadow every sound—
a dim presence.
trees dissolve limbs silenced birds flown
a nightstand with its book and lamp floats
on sea of black each passing car loses direction
sirens doppler to pianissimo.
Released into the vast living-room of memory,
I hear the faint ring of a telephone evaporating
somewhere inside a building or on a sidewalk.
Could that be you, sending me signals,
hovering at the edge of my dreams
ready to keep me company?
Come in, my love, I’ve cleared a space for you.
There’s plenty of room
inside this darkness.
About the Poet
Susan Dworski Nusbaum is the author of the full-length poetry collections What We Take With Us (2014) and Open Wide, The Eye (2016), and Alive in This Place (2019), all published by Coffeetown Press. Born in Rochester, and a graduate of Smith College and the University at Buffalo Law School, she lives in Buffalo, where she has worked as a teacher, arts administrator, and criminal prosecutor.
Related Event
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- Susan Dworski Nusbaum will join poet Ansie Baird and Rabbi Alex Lazarus Klein in a Buffalo Corner Reading Series event on Thursday, December 21st at 7 p.m. The reading will be live and in person at Congregation Shir Shalom, 4660 Sheridan Drive in Amherst, NY and virtual via Zoom, Boxcast, Facebook and YouTube. It is free and open to all.Visit www.shirshalombuffalo.org for additional information and links to livestream the event.
The Poem of the Week feature is curated by literary legacy awardee R.D. Pohl.