nightbook
Steve Matanle
Passager Books
Baltimore, MD 2011
And that was the way it was that night . . . Pablo Neruda
The poems in this book are from a series of poems I wrote in a black notebook while sitting on the small concrete porch outside my house every night at around 3 am, from mid-September to mid-December, and then, although not every night, from late December until early spring. The poems are improvisations, written without forethought, and edited only slightly for this collection.
I In the soft rain falling, I witness the descent of angels, climbing down the secret ladders of the night, their haloes like dampened fires. Have they come in answer to the prayers of my body, the blue vein arching in my wrist?
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II The raveled skeins of roots in the dark ground, the stars like flecks of gilt and tinsel. What does the night want of me? I light a match and the wind blows it out. I pray my heart does not fail. All I want is to see sunlight on a bedroom wall. The pine trees lean into the night.
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IIi The stars wandering through the night like the distant lanterns of a search party, a solemn meandering procession of echoing cries, the lost child’s name like a word no one knows how to say without feeling it is hallowed, and unheard.
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Iv The hard glitter of stars, the lurid clouds backlit by the moon, the pious trees, all seem painted on a curtain, trembling and now parting a little, so an angel can slip through, awkwardly, as if learning to walk in a world where nothing is weightless, its long gown
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trailing on the ground, like a dress worn by a little girl pretending to be her mother, a halo like the moon behind a cloud. When the angel touches my heart, I feel it spinning like a wheel, and I know in that feeling of chance guided by desire all the angels know of time.
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IX The nervous stars and blurry trees. The moon filled with light. My heart like the dark hole of a guitar.
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XLII The night, like a closed book.
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in legends, the crane stands for longevity, peace,
harmony, good fortune and fidelity. A high flyer, it is cherished for its ability to see both heaven and earth. These ancient, magnificent birds, so crucial in the wild as an “umbrella species,� are now endangered and must be protected. Passager Books is dedicated to making public the passions of a generation vital to our survival. We invite you to help us carry out our mission. Nightbook was designed by Pantea Amin Tofangchi. The text pages are set in Adobe Garamond Pro, the text paper is vanilla Finch opaque vellum. Printed in an edition of 250 by BookMobile in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
The editors are delighted to present Nightbook by Steve Matanle, the third in a series of chapbooks: Six over Sixty, by writers whose work has appeared in Passager. These limited-edition chapbooks will be available individually and as a set.
also from passager books
A Cartography of Peace by Jean L. Connor
Improvise in the Amen Corner by Larnell Custis Butler
A Little Breast Music by Shirley J. Brewer
A Hinge of Joy by Jean L. Connor
Keeping Time: 150 Years of Journal Writing Edited by Mary Azrael & Kendra Kopelke
Burning Bright: passager celebrates 21 years edited by Mary Azrael & Kendra Kopelke