Steel words or cloud
 
He cannot stand
poetry, utter waste. 
Wants words that
are slammed into
the paper so clear
and sharp by the
typewriter key that
you can read them
from the other side
with your fingertips. 
Steel prose, clear,
no nonsense. This is
the word; this is it;
make no mistake.
 
I come up for air.
 
The bread breaks in a jagged line.
 
I will tell you the future of last year.

​Patrick T. Reardon is the author of eight books, including Requiem for David, a poetry collection from Silver Birch Press, and Faith Stripped to Its Essence, a literary-religious analysist of Shusaku Endo's novel Silence. Reardon worked for 32 years as a reporter with the Chicago Tribune, specializing in urban affairs, and is now writing a book about the impact of the elevated railroad Loop on the stability and development of Chicago.  His Pump Don't Work blog can be found at  http://www.patricktreardon.com/blog/.  He can be reached at [email protected].

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