Poetry Friday: Introducing Henry Crawford
To celebrate the last Poetry Friday of National Poetry Month, I'd like to introduce you to Henry Crawford.
This fall, Henry was a featured reader at Wilde Readings -- the local literary series I co-host with poets Ann Bracken and Linda Joy Burke.I was intrigued by the way Henry's work as a lawyer and software developer impacts the form, content, and rhythm of his writing. More than anything else, though, what draws me into Henry's poems is his attention to the vivid, precise details that tell a story, or bring a person to life in a few words.Today, I'm sharing Henry's poem "Off-hours" from his collection American Software. I'll link to another poem at the end of this post.Off-hoursBy Henry CrawfordAfter the late shiftthe cops will drop by.Shots and a beer.Nightsticks on the bar.In a back boothI dream my mother laughingand there she is -- laughing.Her smudged mouth wide,always longing."We gotta go nowlittle guy," her breathwet and pine treesweet, her boiled eyeslooking hard to see.The jukebox is dark.A tired jumble of mothscircle the bald bar light.Even the cops are gone.These streets belong to us now.The radio knows this hour well.My mother is singing to the wheel.I'm in the backseatpretending to sleep, tracingthe roads in my mindjust minutes before morningon that slow roll home.
"Off-hours" was first published in Scryptic magazine (December 2017 issue). It is shared here with the author's permission.If you enjoyed this poem, please check out Henry's poem "Every Morning Maddie."
