If
seasons are still cyclical
if
cylinders can still
the
incessant rolling
if the
film can still be spliced
to
tighten the pace.
If the reel can be looped
can
lead me in a circle:
O let
me back
in this
place.
If
incandescence isn’t extinct
then
cast an oval
of gold & let me
near
the glow.
Stitch
the frames
&
tick
the
strip let perforations
hug the
sprocket’s teeth.
Fit each hole
&
roll your moments
past
the light.
Lens, splash the
screen
in
images of spring.
Machine
play &
play
& play
the loop
Melissa Ginsburg is the author of the poetry collections Doll Apollo and Dear Weather Ghost, the novels The House Uptown and Sunset City, and three poetry chapbooks, Arbor, Double Blind, and Apollo. Her poems have appeared in the New Yorker, Image, Guernica, Kenyon Review, Fence, Southwest Review, and other magazines. Her work has been recognized by the Writers' League of Texas and the Mississippi Arts Commission. She teaches creative writing and literature at the University of Mississippi, and serves as Associate Editor of Tupelo Quarterly. She lives in Oxford, Mississippi.
