Intimations of Intimation

The sky is blue.
The air is clear and cold.
The red tails are whistling across the lake.

I have the feeling that if I stand out here
long enough I will have the feeling
some great truth will make itself known to me.

It will not be the blue truth of the sky,
although it will also be that.
It will not be the clear cold truth of the air,

although it will also be that.
It will not be the whistling truth of the red tails
across the lake, although it will also be that.

It will be more than that,
this great truth I have a feeling
I will have a feeling about if I stand out here long enough.

It will be more than
these intimations of intimation,
more than this pale imitation of imitation.

Professor Emeritus of English at SUNY Orange, J.R. Solonche has published poetry in more than 500 magazines, journals, and anthologies since the early 70s, including The New Criterion, The New York Times, The Threepenny Review, The American Scholar, The Progressive, Poetry Northwest, Salmagundi, The Literary Review, The Sun, The American Journal of Poetry, Poet Lore, Poetry East, The Hampden-Sydney Poetry Review, The Journal of the American Medical Association, and Free Verse. He is the author of several books including Invisible (nominated for the Pulitzer Prize by Five Oaks Press); The Porch Poems (Deerbrook Editions, 2020 Shelf Unbound Notable Indie Book); Piano Music (nominated for the Pulitzer Prize by Serving House Books); Selected Poems 2002-2021 (nominated for the National Book Award by Serving House Books); and The Lost Notebook of Zhao Li (Dos Madres Press, nominated for the Pulitzer Prize).