Stephen Pollock
I know these rails of whining steel
are really spines, the ties but ribs,
and marking them, can’t help but feel
a permanence in their grids.
What more would I learn, leaning out
for a clearer view of the track and rubble
should the Evening Express on the opposite route
pop my skull like a bubble…
***
Stephen Pollock received the Rolfe Humphries Poetry Prize in his senior year at Amherst College. His poem “Syringe” was shortlisted for the 2018 Live Canon International Poetry Prize, and his elegy “Leaves” was a semifinalist for the 2019 River Styx International Poetry Contest. “Arachnidæa: Line Drawings” was awarded second place in the Poet’s Choice category of the Oregon Poetry Association’s 2020 competition. Steve’s poems have appeared in Poeming Pigeon, Live Canon Anthology, Ink to Paper, Buddhist Poetry Review and Pinesong.