Laurence Snydal

Laurence Snydal

EYE IN THE SKY

The eye appeared in the sky one early

Afternoon. At first many people blamed

Atmospherics, roiled air in the surly

September heat. Later weathermen claimed

The arched lid, serene blue iris were quirks

Not of nature but of the mind while late-

Night evangelists saw the ends of works

And days and told us how much to donate.

But still the eye gazed down upon our globe.

Telescopes were focused. The pope implored

God for forgiveness. NASA sent a probe.

George Harrison re-released “My Sweet Lord.”

Then the Oscar Awards aired on NBC

And everyone went inside to watch TV.

—from Rattle #38, Winter 2012
Tribute to Speculative Poetry

__________

Laurence Snydal: “I spent my youth addicted to science fiction and somewhere there was a story called ‘Eye in the Sky.’ In those pre-Sputnik years, it must have referred to an artificial satellite. But the idea …”

Laurence Snydal

AUTHORITY

When Norman sent me for the cows

I couldn’t bring them in. They stood

As if they had all day to browse

The short grass down, as if they could

Graze all the way to China. When

I hollered, some of them would swing

Their huge heads round and stare and then

They’d swish and stamp and blink to bring

My eight years into focus. Damn!

I had to go and get the dog.

And everything I think I am

Still sees them file out of the bog

Down by the stockpond, up the hill,

Back to the barn, the dog behind,

And I behind the dog. I still

Remember how he made them mind.

—from Rattle #30, Winter 2008
Tribute to Cowboy & Western Poetry

__________

Laurence Snydal: “I was raised in town but spent much of the summer on the farm when I was a kid. It was a wheat farm in arid western North Dakota and there was a small herd of milk cattle. I can still feel the fierce heat of midsummer as I trudged on that long-ago chore. I hope you feel it too and that you marvel at the dog’s easy authority.”

Rattle: Poetry

… without pretension since 1995.

August 22, 2013

August 13, 2009