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Sounding Board
Susan Roney-O’Brien

Tonight the true singers of spring
bend voices through the far screen—
that liquid thrum and swallow
that speaks want, speaks longing

and a woman listens for words
where no words form,
aches to speak spring peeper,
to trill in tongues, not for salvation

but to give voice to wind and want
and rain, to become one of them—
the throat-full, the unbodied
that sing joy each night, each day.

—
Susan Roney-O’Brien earned an MFA from Warren Wilson College and has published two chapbooks and three full-length poetry collections. Nominated for numerous Pushcart Prizes and published widely, she is Vice President of programming for Worcester County Poetry Association, curates a monthly poetry venue, facilitates poetry workshops in area libraries, and is a member of 4x4, a poet/artist collaborative.

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