After Wallace Stevens
The house is quiet.
What might be said
is never ending.
Straight backed,
nothing between
the headlines explained.
It is only a question for
the dog in his curl,
only a question
of instinct
telling you
wars will
be fought.
Regardless.
And viruses will spread
on the world’s breath.
You live
in a parallel universe.
Neither you nor your dog
will move mountains.
An algorithm
from some higher power
is needed.
You might find salvation
if you wait
until the last leaf falls
the dog speaks
or the skies open, filling
you with the vision
you long for.
This probably won’t happen.
Patience.
A future is still possible.
Plan for it.
Sandra Sidman Larson, twice nominated for a Pushcart Prize, has three chapbooks to her credit: Whistling Girls and Cackling Hens, Over a Threshold of Roots, (both Pudding House Press Publications) and Weekend Weather: Calendar Poems. Her chapbook Ode to Beautiful was published by Finishing Line Press in 2016 and her first full manuscript by Main Street Rag Publications in 2017. Her poetry has been published in many venues such as the Atlanta Review, Grey Sparrow, Earth’s Daughters, and TheNewVerse.News. As a poet with grandchildren and great nieces and nephews she longs for a world where children are safe.