Nine Alive!
Newspaper headline
Somerset, PA
This is the popular miracle
to which we bow down,
a gasp in our throats,
thousands ready to weep,
disbelief exhaling relief
and not that dark mine of tragedy
that keeps collapsing
around this tunnel of a country.
But there are other wonders too:
untelevised, deeper down,
the tap-tap-tapping
left between breaths
hungry for spirit—
that canary not-yet-dead
in our damp labyrinth—
the way we long for light,
for even a candle-glow of joy
for what was once lost.
“Alive! Still Alive!”
our pulse mutters,
trying to pray.
Author:
Marjorie Maddox :
Marjorie Maddox is Director of Creative Writing at Lock Haven University. She has 8 collections of poetry and over 280 published poems, short stories, and essays. Maddox is also the co-editor of Common Wealth: Contemporary Poets on Pennsylvania. She has received numerous awards for her writing and has two children’s books forthcoming from Boyds Mills Press. She lives in Williamsport, PA, with her husband and two children.
Marjorie Maddox is Director of Creative Writing at Lock Haven University. She has 8 collections of poetry and over 280 published poems, short stories, and essays. Maddox is also the co-editor of Common Wealth: Contemporary Poets on Pennsylvania. She has received numerous awards for her writing and has two children’s books forthcoming from Boyds Mills Press. She lives in Williamsport, PA, with her husband and two children.
