How Much I Loved This Life

I lay in the dark afraid of the dark,
Once, in Alabama, in 1954,
The year before electricity,
And prayed and could not pray

One lamp for all the world
And, listening, heard the L&N
Screech at Lacon, and then
The unmuted spirit breathing of the house.

I lay in the dark afraid of the dark
And thought of the word eternity
And of the hydrogen bomb.
Sometimes now in sleep I ululate.

When Katy shakes me, asking why,
I mean to keep things light. I say,
“That is the noise I always make
When I am being devoured.”

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Rodney Jones

Rodney Jones lives in the Central City area of New Orleans. His books include Transparent Gestures, winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award, and Salvation Blues, winner of the Kingsley Tufts Prize. His eleventh book, Alabama, will be published by Louisiana State University Press in the fall of 2023.

Also by Rodney Jones (see all)

• Childhood Ends - September 21, 2022
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• The Poetic Integrity of David Bottoms - May 30, 2021

Author: Rodney Jones

Rodney Jones lives in the Central City area of New Orleans. His books include Transparent Gestures, winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award, and Salvation Blues, winner of the Kingsley Tufts Prize. His eleventh book, Alabama, will be published by Louisiana State University Press in the fall of 2023. View all posts by Rodney Jones