Home for the holidays by Michael Spence

Poems

December 2009

Home for the holidays

Burke

was right!

At four p.m. the day before Christmas,
There’s no one on my bus.
Dark as midnight; everyone’s bailed out.
I slow to a stop at the foot
Of the hill to Lakeridge. Snow
Beneath the streetlamps glows
Slick as melted plastic. Two cars
Abandoned in the ditch endure
Their gradual erasure, flakes
Stippling out their color. I look
At the snow tapping the windshield
And call Control. Afraid I’ll get stalled,
I ask if this road’s been closed. No—
Continue on regular route. I swallow.
Can I get this big machine to the crest?
I lean forward and press the gas.
Halfway up
I begin to slip—
Snow chains scrabble like a planer
Over the ripples in a warped board.
The tires whine and skirr,
But the bus isn’t moving. In a nearby yard
A girl ...

This article is available to subscribers and for individual purchase

Subscribe to TNC (Print and Online editions)

Subscribe to TNC (Online only)

Purchase article credit and clip this article

If you already have an account login first

Michael Spence's latest book of poems is Crush Death (Truman State University Press).

Webcasts

Anthony Daniels on the Euro Crisis
The New Criterion author Anthony Daniels delivers remarks in New York City about the "European experiment." With an introduction by editor Roger Kimball. Recorded on November 30, 2011.

Andrew C. McCarthy: The Muslim Threat
The New Criterion contributor Andrew C. McCarthy delivers remarks in Effingham, Illinois, about the threat of Islamism to the United States. A Friend of The New Criterion, Dwight Erskine, introduces McCarthy to the Effingham audience. Recorded on October 1, 2011.

Roger Kimball: The Grim Future of Statism
The New Criterion editor Roger Kimball delivers remarks in Effingham, Illinois, about the future of statism and The New Criterion's 30th anniversary. A Friend of The New Criterion, Dwight Erskine, introduces Roger Kimball to the Effingham audience. Recorded on October 1, 2011.

Weblog

Further Studies in Gaffe-ology

by James Bowman

Feb 07, 2012 05:46 PM

Charles Murray's "Fishtown" in popular culture

by Emily Esfahani Smith

Feb 07, 2012 11:53 AM

Must-Read Alert: Andrew Roberts in demolition mode

by Roger Kimball

Feb 02, 2012 02:22 PM

The New Criterion

Poems

This article is available to subscribers and for individual purchase

Webcasts

RSS feeds