Welcome to WNIJ's Poetically Yours. Poetically Yours showcases poems by northern Illinois poets. Today's segment features poet Richard Holinger.
Holinger is a published author. His books include Kangaroo Rabbits and Galvanized Fences, a collection of his newspaper columns, and North of Crivitz, a book of poetry focusing on the North Woods and Upper Midwest. His work has received three Pushcart Prizenominations, and his essay published in Thread received a “Notable” mention in Best American Essays 2018. Holinger's works have appeared in several different journals. He lives in the Fox River Valley area west of Chicago. Degrees include a Ph.D. in Creative Writing from the University of Illinois at Chicago. Here's Holinger's poem "Saving Daylight."
We first “fall back,”
Then “spring forward,”
Mnemonic helpers recalling
It’s time to reset time.
The added autumn hour
Adored by sleepers, kids ignore,
Their night clocks true
To needs, not light.
In March, we rise, like Proust,
To a remembrance of lost time
And struggle to make do with less.
Yet do we not “fall forward”
And “spring back” as well?
Climbing up, your wingtip toe strikes
A stair, pushing you ahead
Or, hiking, spot an Eastern Massasauga,
Instinct yanking from behind.
Here, body and mind seize control
Not of earth’s continual tilt
North or south determining
The luminescence of your days,
But simply in helping
Gain your fragile balance,
Or escape a rattler’s one-note song.
- Yvonne Boose is a current corps member for Report for America, an initiative of the GroundTruth Project. It's a national service program that places talented journalists in local newsrooms like WNIJ. You can learn more about Report for America at wnij.org.