"Praisesong" by Sarah Browning

View this email on a browser Forward to a friend November 22, 2017   Praisesong   Sarah Browning

At the coffee shop you love, white mugs heavy on the table between us, young baristas— spiky haired and impatient— cannot imagine how two people so old to them can feel so wanton, coffee growing cold between us, middle-aged bodies growing hot under the other's gaze. Even now, apart, you send me songs so I may listen to love from the golden throat of a saxophone, piano keys playing jazz across my soft belly. How is it the tide of terror has quit rising in me, or rises and recedes as tides do, bringing sea glass worked smooth and lovely by the sheer fact of time, bringing trash— plastic mesh and old sneakers— useless things now we might bag up and remove, bringing a lapping tongue of water up over our toes as we hold hands and walk along its edge— carefully, gleefully, both.            Copyright © 2017 Sarah Browning. Used with permission of the author. About This Poem   "New love is always terrifying, isn't it? And perhaps especially so later in life, when we've had time to accumulate so much experience of heartache. 'Praisesong' was written very early in a romance and was inspired by a surprise spotting of the marvelous Ted Kooser poem 'A Map of the World' on the New York City subway, when I was there in April for less than twenty-four hours for the introduction of the first U.S. youth poet laureate, Amanda Gorman, at Gracie Mansion. The poem has these unforgettable lines: 'But feeling is indelible, / and longing infinite…' Yes… You can find poems on the subway and on the website of the MTA, which collaborates with the Poetry Society of America to bring poetry to the daily lives of New York's commuters." —Sarah Browning   Sarah Browning is the author of Killing Summer (Sibling Rivalry Press, 2017). She is cofounder and executive director of Split This Rock and an associate fellow of the Institute for Policy Studies. She lives in Washington, DC.   Photo Credit: Nikki Brugnoli Whipkey Poetry by Browning   Killing Summer (Sibling Rivalry Press, 2017) "Flying at Night" by Ted Kooser "Song Out Here" by Juan Felipe Herrera "The Night Migrations" by Louise Glück Poem-a-Day   If you value Poem-a-Day, please consider a monthly donation or one-time gift to help make it possible. Poem-a-Day is the only digital series publishing new, previously unpublished work by today's poets each weekday morning. The free series, which also features a curated selection of classic poems on weekends, reaches 450,000+ readers daily. Thank you! 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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