The Reemergence Of The Noose by Patricia Smith

The Reemergence Of The Noose

by Patricia Smith

published in Asheville Poetry Review, Volume 15, Issue 1

Some lamp sputters its dusty light across a

desk. Some hand, in a fever, works the fraying

brown hemp, twisting and knifing, weaving, tugging

tight this bellowing circle. Randy Travis

sings, moans, radio’s steamy twangs and hiccups,

blue notes backing the ritual of drooping

loop. Sweat drips in an awkward hallelujah.

God glares down, but the artist doesn’t waver—

wrists click rhythm, and rope becomes a path to

what makes saviors; the loop bemoans its need to

squeeze, its craving for a breath within the ring.