Poetry by Stephen Newton

 

 

And What Have You Lost?

And what have you lost

After all these years?

What is it that, looking back,

You would most like to replace?

The ability to dream while awake,

To see the stars through the

Bright blue of late afternoon.

Not much more than that, when you

Come right down to it, although

Fog disappearing on the water

At first light on those days when I had

Few worries and concerns, well maybe

A bit of that too, but that's enough.

Some dreaming and water and fog and light.

A day filled with these things.

 

 

The Way You Begin is to Find a Line

The way you begin is to find a line

like this one and then see where it

takes you or at least this is one way

and obviously not the only one but

still it is a way to get started and wind

up with something rather than nothing

which is what there was before that line

and given all of the possible outcomes

all of the ways that this evening could

have wound up and all of the different

ways that this poem could have been

shaped it is not such an awful way to

begin or even to end if that is what is

in the cards beginnings and endings

and of course there is much to say

about that but perhaps not tonight this

may not be the time for those thoughts

and the way to end or one way anyhow

is to tie the thing up by mentioning

the ending and just leaving it at that

 

About the Author

I am Assistant Professor of English at William Paterson University in Wayne, New Jersey, where I also direct the Writing Center. My essays and poetry have appeared in GLOSS, The Adirondack Review, BWe, Downtown Brooklyn: A Journal of Writing, College English Notes, Penwood Review, Eclectica, and The English Record.