“Untitled (after Mrs. Scott’s House)” by Martin Willitts, Jr.

After Mrs. Scott’s House (1932)by Edward Hopper

We could be anywhere, but we are here
in the middle of nowhere,
where even emptiness is beautifully fragile.
I wouldn’t trade this immense silence
for all the congestion of cities.
Sometimes, the glamourous is the skylark
planting his song in the air
so that anyone might hear it. Sometimes,
it is the distant white church bells
lulling us into contemplative prayer,
buzzing like a lazy fly.
Every day starts dramatically,
triumphantly over the darkness of katydids.
Here, the wind calls me
like an urging I do not have to answer.
This is where I live.
I wouldn’t have it any other way,
quietly with the shadows
that paint the shushed land surrounding me,
a beauty that flies me
into where I want to be.

Martin Willitts, Jr. has 24 chapbooks including the Turtle Island Quarterly Editor’s Choice Award, “The Wire Fence Holding Back the World” (Flowstone Press, 2017), plus 16 full-length collections including the Blue Light Award 2019, “The Temporary World”. His recent book is “Unfolding Towards Love” (Wipf and Stock).