Psithurism, a poem by Carrie Magness Radna at Spillwords.com
Robert Bye

Psithurism

Psithurism

written by: Carrie Magness Radna

@cmrboxwoodstar1

 

I used to hate the sounds outside my bedroom window:
the helicopters flying overhead every evening,
the screams from the neighbors who lived by the ditch,
the barking of our dog, Scout.

There is a tree in the backyard
that never stops moving;
its leaves crackle & coast in windy days,
providing good shelter for bird families
& the occasional squirrels.

& the tree sang too loud with the wind ( = psithurism)
& its inhabitants wouldn’t let up their noises
so I could sleep peacefully.
I wanted to shout: “Shut up!”

Now, I miss that bedtime noise.
My husband snores like a wild elephant
until he rolls over—then, quiet
(sometimes sirens erupt)

We live 9 floors up where no trees grow.
I miss the wind songs of the trees the most.

Carrie Magness Radna

Carrie Magness Radna

Carrie Magness Radna is an audiovisual cataloger at the New York Public Library, a choral singer and a poet who loves to travel. Her poems have previously appeared in The Oracular Tree, Mediterranean Poetry, Muddy River Poetry Review, Spillwords.com, Poetry Super Highway, Shot Glass Journal (Muse-Pie Press), Vita Brevis, Home Planet News, Cajun Mutt Press, Walt’s Corner, Polarity eMagazine, The Poetic Bond (VIII-X), Alien Buddha Press, Jerry Jazz Musician, Rye Whiskey Review, Litterateur RW and First Literary Review-East. Her first poetry collection, Hurricanes never apologize (Luchador Press) was published in December 2019. Her new poetry collection In the blue hour (Nirala Publications), was published in February 2021. She won Honorable Mention Award twice, for “all trains are haunted” (Non-rhyming poetry: 2019) and “May (a Pantoum)” (Rhyming poetry: 2021) in Writer’s Digest Writer’s Competition. Born in Norman, Oklahoma, she now lives with her husband in Manhattan, New York.
Carrie Magness Radna

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