First
to Arrive
Ivy
Tech John Waldron Arts Center/Bloomington, IN
by
Roger Pfingston
First
to arrive, he sits listening to the building,
the
irregular ticks and hums, the occasional snap
like
something contracting under winter’s grip
on
this June night. It feels good, this aloneness
with
warped wood floors, limestone walls.
He
begins to take on a kind of ownership,
as
if he could be where he wants when he wants
in
this building, huge with friendly indifference,
letting
him sit and be at the top of the stairs,
no
voice but his outside the dark room
that
becomes whatever others need it to be,
Terpsichore
being tonight’s honored guest.
Bio:
A retired teacher of English and photography, Roger Pfingston is the
recipient of a
Creative
Writing Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts and two
PEN
Syndicated
Fiction Awards. He has poems in recent issues of Poet Lore, Spoon
River
Poetry
Review, Innisfree Poetry Journal, and U.S. 1 Worksheets. New poems
are scheduled to
appear
in Poetry East and Hamilton Stone Review. His chapbook, A Day Marked
for Telling, is
available
from Finishing Line Press.