"Out in the World" and "The Crossing of the Bridge"
Out in the World
No one sees the darkest hiss of rain
or the authority of selfish tears
in the rattle of liquid night
like timber packets
Alone hot struggles of kitchen fire
that is her trade
driving her rampart
a woman unconsciously witnessed
with auburn hair low from time’s complexion
that nobody watched
The boatman passes like a gust
absently he comes scratching
cursing all the time
always afraid
strolling to him feels like plunging
Mud errands high hair unmoving
flat time downriver from uninterrupted
books I came not to take employment
for the room had not changed
Able herself supported
she walked with undercut pride
or perhaps with something better
Admit the truth
open the window
goodbye to houses and hello to farms
this is the way things are
out in the world
The Crossing of the Bridge
Dimness is here
followed by regiments
recoiling from containment
armour in Europe
remembering fire-eaters
absorbing what was put down
with great trouble along the bridge
while the rain saturates everything
the enslaved more furiously
throughout fictions and incredulity.
I remember my friends on dry roads
and wagons coated in perfume
memories on the ferryboat
love that is the distance
and the eternal clock
democracy and earthquakes
and women for all the troubadours
shuddering hearts and brains
that heat this world
and rulers furnished by other arts
when I was alone in Charleston.
Jeffrey Side has had poetry published in numerous magazines and on various poetry websites. He has reviewed poetry for Jacket, The Colorado Review, Stride, Acumen, and Shearsman. From 2005 to 2023, he edited The Argotist Online poetry website until its closure, which featured poetry, articles, interviews, and poetry ebooks. The poetry and ebook sections can now be found on two blogs: Argotist Online Poetry and Argotist eBooks.
His publications include Carrier of the Seed, Distorted Reflections, Slimvol, Collected Poetry Reviews 2004-2013, Cyclones in High Northern Latitudes (with Jake Berry), and Outside Voices: An Email Correspondence (with Jake Berry).
