Alice B. Fogel

THE FRINGE

a set of piers a
perspective
a delta
fastened to one edge
& stretching to
air
part free while attached
spills 
strains
shapes
rivers branches I
want
loose
open fingers not the fist
& the
sure I want the
fjord
give me
my own momentum
I can

move 


*


a set of piers affords a fluid
perspective
a delta
its slivers fastened to one edge
& stretching to a multitude
part air
part free while attached
it spills through blue
strains the
shapes that take
rivers cleaving branches dividing I
want
loose
open fingers not the fist
the wish & the wait
held me sure I want the
fjord
give me a boat & my boots
by my own momentum
I can

move what I have to


*


The fringe is a set of piers that affords a fluid
perspective
is a delta
its anchored slivers fastened to land at one edge
& stretching away to a multitude of finite 
elsewheres part air
part solid part free while attached attenuated
it curves & spills its silk through blue depths green
strains the impermanent 
shapes that take 
form rivers cleaving cliffs branches dividing sky & I
just want this grief
let loose 
between its open fingers not the fist that was
the wish & the waiting
that held me to the unsure I want the rift & range
of fjord 
give me a boat & hand me my boots
I can take both land & sea by my own momentum 
I can reach the points  
of opposing 
truths inhale exhale move & do what I have to do

Alice B Fogel served as the New Hampshire poet laureate from 2014 through 2019, instituting a NH Youth Poet Laureate, among other projects. Her latest book is A Doubtful House. Interval: Poems Based on Bach’s “Goldberg Variations” won the Nicholas Schaffner Award for Music in Literature & the 2016 NH Literary Award in Poetry, & her third book, Be That Empty, was a national poetry bestseller. She is also the author of Strange Terrain, on how to appreciate poetry without necessarily “getting” it. Nominated for Best of the Web & twelve times for the Pushcart, she has been awarded a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. She works one-on-one with students with learning differences at Landmark College, & hikes mountains whenever possible. 

Please visit her at : https://www.alicebfogel.com