Morning After, Amherst

for T

We passed another bookstore,
erudite and too expensive
on a student’s budget. Emily
Dickinson was buried nearby.
The sun dazzled and made
us transparent.

They must know. Everyone
on the sidewalk must see.

We could not face each other
for fear of falling, could not look
forward for fear of destination.

I looked down as if spellbound
by the concrete beneath my feet,
seeing it for the first time,
gray and astonishing.

DUDLEY STONE

Dudley Stone’s poetry has recently appeared online in NiftyLit, Spare Parts, and Wilderness House Poetry Review. His writing for the theatre has been seen on stages from California to Connecticut. He has a B.A. in Theatre from the University of Kentucky and studied playwriting at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. Mr. Stone lives in Lexington, Kentucky.