Rodney Nelson
Up There
you see the district on the hill you must
have known
the orange poplar leaves of it
around an iron bench you would recall
if you were free to
even that building
with a tower that might have made you think
of a donjon
you or someone with you
and you would walk right up there if you could
to let the flagstone of the avenue
the light on it
pique a remembering
but you cannot
she said the two of you
were never meant to meet again so to
go back would flout her
and you are old now
another man
for whom the district on
the hill up there is closed to memory
About the writer:
Rodney Nelson’s work began appearing in mainstream journals long ago. He has lived in various parts of the country, working as a licensed psychiatric technician and copy editor, and now resides in the northern Great Plains. Recently published chapbook and book titles are Metacowboy, Mogollon Picnic, Hill of Better Sleep, Felton Prairie, In Wait, Cross Point Road, Late & Later, The Western Wide, Billy Boy, Ahead of Evening, Winter in Fargo, Hjemkomst, Canyon, Time Tacit, and Minded Places.
Image: The Frozen City by Matthias A. K. Zimmermann. Oil on canvas. 160 x 160 cm. 2006. By free license.
