Pioneers in the Study of Motion

Susan Briante

A sample poem from the book

Unquiet

Vertex of the Chrysler Building, pray for me; linemen, bartenders, muses, pray for me; crow covered highway, sing for me; over the bridge of a Washburn 6-string, lay me; crazed molecule! terse atom! play for me; with the moans of forklifts, speak for me; in satin, sable, calico, adorn me; squat propane containers of Bayonne, provide for me; as the kestrel takes wing, revive me, nimbly, sweetly, feloniously, devoutly; by signal post, by relay tower, restrain me; if Ember days, claim me; dioramas of Cro-Magnon man, stand for me; willow bough and spikenard, shade me; until 5 winters roll from the Sierra Madre, train me; Nahuas, Zapotecs, Huicholes, do not sentence me; Magellanic clouds, save me; arboreous morning hung on white adobe, enlighten me; with a high-strung C, redeem me; through clefts of granite, girder, limestone, release me; when the fuse is blown, seek me; do not forsake me; remember me

from steepled sea to shining