Late Night at the End of the Semester by Marianne Szlyk

Almost imperceptible 

thunder rumbles 

over low tide at the shore

you never visit.

You imagine the sound 

of a far-off train.

Someone else is passing through

this place where you must stay.

You listen to

the rain, the drums, the plucked

bass, the right-hand flutter.

You recognize, then don’t recognize

this song 

playing somewhere beyond

the computer screen

the coffee cup

your waking life.

Marianne Szlyk is the editor of The Song Is... , an associate poetry editor at Potomac Review, and a professor of English at Montgomery College. Her second chapbook, I Dream of Empathy, was published by Flutter Press.  Her first chapbook is available through Kind of a Hurricane Press.  She hopes that you will consider sending work to her magazine. For more information about it, see this link: http://thesongis.blogspot.com/