Jay Parini

Jay Parini (1948- ) has published multiple collections of poetry, as well as novels, biographies and academic texts. He has received honorary degrees from Lafayette College and the University of Scranton and fellowships from Christ Church at Oxford University, the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, and the School of Advanced Study (Institute of English Studies) at the University of London.

Below Zero

Ice petals on the trees.

The peppery black sparrows pour across

the frozen lawn.

The wind waits patiently behind the barn.

Though I’m not myself here, that’s okay.

I’ve lost my name,

my last address, the problem

that has kept me up all night this week in winter.

Such a long time coming,

this white timeless time in time,

with zero to the bone

the best thing anyone could ever say.

I stand here in the open,

full of straw, loose-limbed, unmuffled.

No one’s here, not-me as well,

this winter morning that goes on forever.

— Jay Parini