Abandoned Block Factory, Arkansas by Elizabeth Lindsey Rogers

View this email on a browser Forward to a friend March 29, 2017   Abandoned Block Factory, Arkansas   Elizabeth Lindsey Rogers

All that is left unaccounted for: elegance married to rust. On the roof, rain dwelling in the corrugations. Some slats vanished altogether, a blankness giving way to sky. But the eaves hold in perfect vertices, refuse to abandon their beauty, hard-earned. High on the yellow silo, the conveyor's lattice is as finely wrought as a string instrument's struts and braces: precision in every coordinate and all across the godlike slant from tower to the ground. There would be no time at all if not for moss swelling in concrete cracks, the guard rails papered by lichen. If not for the rest of the world, the silence it attempts to punctuate: crow caw. Engine roar. Horns of every pitch and color. The train's shuddering Doppler, crossing us now—as always— in near-perfect intervals. Even though there is no tangible good to stop for, nothing whole to take away.            Copyright © 2017 Elizabeth Lindsey Rogers. Used with permission of the author. About This Poem   "In 2016, when I first moved to Arkansas, I became fascinated with the abandoned concrete block factory in my neighborhood. I recently brought some of my students there, and we all wrote poems in response to the site. This poem is also an homage to Linda Gregg's 'Elegance,' with my first few lines echoing hers." —Elizabeth Lindsey Rogers   Elizabeth Lindsey Rogers is the author of Chord Box (University of Arkansas Press, 2013). She teaches at Hendrix College and splits her time between Conway, Arkansas, and Washington, D.C.     Poetry by Rogers   Chord Box (University of Arkansas Press, 2013)  "We Manage Most When We Manage Small" by Linda Gregg "The Ecstasy" by Phillip Lopate "Personals" by C. D. Wright Poem-a-Day   Launched during National Poetry Month in 2006, Poem-a-Day features new and previously unpublished poems by contemporary poets on weekdays and classic poems on weekends. If you enjoy Poem-a-Day, please consider making a donation to help make it possible. 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

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