Holding Posture by Howard Altmann

View this email on a browser Forward to a friend October 17, 2014   Holding Posture   Howard Altmann

History sits on a chair in a room without windows. Mornings it searches for a door, afternoons it naps. At the stroke of midnight, it stretches its body and sighs. It keeps time and loses time, knows its place and doesn’t know its place. Sometimes it considers the chair a step, sometimes it believes the chair is not there. To corners it never looks the same. Under a full moon it holds its own. History sits on a chair in a room above our houses.            Copyright © 2014 by Howard Altmann. Used with permission of the author. About This Poem   “This short poem was conceived in Lisbon, where the light never rests on its laurels. It was put to bed a few years later in New York City, where the light crowds out the stars.” —Howard Altmann   Howard Altmann is the author of In This House (Turtle Point Press, 2010). He lives in New York City. Most Recent Book by Altmann   In This House (Turtle Point Press, 2010) "The Idea of Order at Key West" by Wallace Stevens "History" by Robert Lowell "Duende" by Tracy K. Smith Poem-a-Day   Launched during National Poetry Month in 2006, Poem-a-Day features new and previously unpublished poems by contemporary poets on weekdays and classic poems on weekends. Thanks for being a part of the Academy of American Poets community. To learn about other programs, including National Poetry Month, Poem in Your Pocket Day, the annual Poets Forum, and more, visit Poets.org.   You are receiving this e-mail because you elected to subscribe to our mailing list. If you would like to unsubscribe, please click here.   © Academy of American Poets 75 Maiden Lane, Suite 901, New York, NY 10038