New City

Winter strains toward spring.
A bird is singing in a leafless tree.
The river gleams, the sidewalks glint with ice
or with a hint of possibility.
A blade of sun bisects the afternoon
street. In such a slippery spot I fell,
righted myself, stood up,
and found myself no longer in the winter
but in a city and a season slyly
disguised as ordinary, but transfigured.
The grime of dailiness was all rinsed clean.
In a leafless tree a bird was singing.

YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE

It’s Cool to Love America Again

Susannah Seltzer

The media would like you to know that the Great American State Fair, which took over the…

The Founders and the Common Good

Vincent Phillip Muñoz

The dominant public philosophy among American elites is modern liberalism, often referred to merely as “liberalism.” Two…

Letters—August/September 2026

My first thought on “Boomer–Zoomer Housing War” by Carmel Richardson was the title; my second thought after…