At Clode Sound by Renée M. Sgroi

Poem title: At Clode Sound

Poet name: Renée M. Sgroi

Poem: rumbling in dawn’s rain, the sound is

 

travelling, restless,   

as if the distance from ocean

to shore is leagues-infinite, as if the point

of moon-rolling a current is to polish it

 

into a weight       dropped down a well,

a line to plumb depth          a sounding.

 

how measurable a vibration is

 

a frequency toned in silvers and grays,

in eagle flecks and waxwings, the whales

spray into morning’s breach like a wing flapping, quiet

 

the sound is a tune of tines

 

that reverberate in raindrops,

in pine needles that fall, sticking

 

their evergreen waves to the shore

in unbending movements of keeping.

 

a ping of wetness on dried wood, a sound

is a wave born of striking

 

an atmospheric perception the outer ear amplifies

 

the way a fjord collects an idea and turns it, inwards

as if to contemplate its saltiness

or the heartbeat in its circularity.

 

a sound is a form of water treed banks enclose

 

the ocean embraced, a body that can’t

contain its own open-ended questions

 

for which the birds and fish bear echoes

End of poem.

Credits and bio: Copyright © Renée M. Sgroi

Previously published in Literary Review of Canada, October 2023.

Renée M. Sgroi’s first poetry collection, life print, in points (erbacce-press) was published in 2020, and her second will be published in 2024 by Guernica Editions. Her poetry has appeared in Literary Review of Canada, Pinhole Poetry, The Windsor Review, The /tƐmz/ Review, Poetry Pause and numerous anthologies. A member of The Writers Union of Canada, the League of Canadian Poets, and the Canadian Authors Association, she is also a contributing editor for Arc Poetry Magazine.