Field in Spring by Susan Stewart

View this email on a browser Forward to a friend April 30, 2015   Field in Spring   Susan Stewart

Your eye moving   left to right across   the plowed lines   looking to touch down   on the first   shoots coming up   like a frieze   from the dark where   pale roots   and wood-lice gorge   on mold.   Red haze atop   the far trees.   A two dot, then   a ten dot   ladybug. Within   the wind, a per-   pendicular breeze.   Hold a mirror,   horizontal,   to the rain. Now   the blurred repetition   of ruled lines, the faint   green, quickening,   the doubled tears.   Wake up.   The wind is not for seeing,   neither is the first   song, soon half-   way gone,   and the figures,   the figures are not waiting.   To see what is   in motion you must move.            Copyright © 2015 by Susan Stewart. Used with permission of the author. About This Poem   “This poem is from a series of studies of the same field in sequential seasons. Is there anyone in the northern hemisphere who isn’t trying, in these days, to read the signs of spring?” — Susan Stewart   Susan Stewart is the author of numerous books of poems, including Red Rover (University of Chicago Press, 2008). She is a professor of English at Princeton University.   Photo credit: American Academy in Berlin   Most Recent Book by Stewart   Red Rover (University of Chicago Press, 2008) "In cold spring air" by Reginald Gibbons "Alcove" by John Ashbery "Spring Snow" by Arthur Sze Read This Poem   For National Poetry Month, we’ve teamed up with 826 National to produce Read This Poem, a celebration of poets in cities with 826 chapters. Read this week’s featured poems by poets from Boston, Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, New York City, San Francisco, and Washington D.C. 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