Loading...
Loading...
Click here if you don’t see subscription options
PoetrySeptember 9-16, 2013 issue

Missile Silos, North Dakota

Kathleen SpivackMarch 12, 2014
Furred, the horizons
are both calling and escaping:
there must be an edge.
Near the bases on the prairie
the farms in silhouette seem homesick;
one can imagine entering their kitchens
and from the stubbled fields
birds rise up, hopeful.
Someone stands at a window
looking for a limit to vision
but the fields press out flat
in every direction
like alternatives with equal value
and young girls who dream
of leaving home
go out with the boys from
the Air Force Base,
pressing their hot doomed bodies
together on back seats of cars.
All day the boys sit
before consoles, staring
at buttons and flashing lights,
waiting to launch
irreversible missiles
on cue, the trajectories blazing
over these flat fields,
over the sky, grand and clanging,
startling the farms,
the right angled roads,
low ceilings and huddled rooms.
Kathleen Spivack
Kathleen Spivack’s memoir, With Robert Lowell and His Circle: Plath, Sexton, Rich, Bishop, Kunitz, was published recently by The University Press of New England. A History of Yearning won the London Book Festival First Prize, 2010. This poem was the third runner-up in the Foley poetry contest 2013.
Show Comments (
)
Comments are automatically closed two weeks after an article's initial publication. See our comments policy for more.

Most popular

1
Cardinal Czerny on if Pope Leo is a new Francis, a new Benedict—or something else
Gerard O’Connell
2
Pope Leo warned about fake news. President Trump just showed us a worst-case scenario.
Kevin Clarke
3
Vatican warns about fake Pope Leo quotes and videos
Catholic News Service
4
Óscar Romero’s resurrection spirituality
Matthew Ashley
5
Pope Leo XIV: The overlooked experiences that will shape his papacy
Jesuitical

Your source for jobs, books, retreats, and much more.

Executive Director – Network Lobby for Catholic Social Justice
Jobs
Serve as a Bethlehem Farm Caretaker in Beautiful West Virginia
Volunteer / Vocation
Loyola on the Potomac, A Jesuit Retreat House
Retreat Houses, Retreats
Interspiritual Contemplative Day of Reflection at Holy Family Retreat Center – In Person or Online
Retreats
All My Eyes See: The Artistic Vocation of Fr. William Hart McNichols
Books
See all Classifieds

The latest from america

Pope Leo XIV greets religious sisters during a meeting with officials and employees of the Roman Curia, Vatican City State and the Diocese of Rome in the Paul VI Audience Hall at the Vatican May 24, 2025. (CNS photo/Vatican Media)
Pope Leo to Roman Curia: ‘Popes come and go, the Curia remains’
Describing the Curia as the institution that preserves “the historical memory of the church,” Pope Leo called on these Vatican employees to “work together” with him “in the great cause of unity and love.”
Gerard O’ConnellMay 24, 2025
Paola Ugaz, a Peruvian journalist who helped expose the abuse committed by leaders of the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae, gives Pope Leo XIV a stole made of alpaca wool, during the pope's meeting with members of the media May 12, 2025, in the Paul VI Audience Hall at the Vatican. (CNS photo/Vatican Media)
Pope Leo’s support—and challenge—to the world’s journalists
Pope Leo offered a heartening message for a global media that has endured a pretty awful year.
Kevin ClarkeMay 23, 2025
Pope Leo is a Villanova Wildcat. Here’s what that means to a recent grad.
If you think our enthusiasm for our basketball team was intense, just wait until you see our support for Pope Leo XIV.
Jack DoolinMay 23, 2025
Cardinal Czerny on if Pope Leo is a new Francis, a new Benedict—or something else
“I don’t think he’s the kind of man who sends coded messages,” Cardinal Michael Czerny says in this exclusive interview with Gerard O’Connell.
Gerard O’ConnellMay 23, 2025