Two Poems by Susanna Lang
Hiatus
in memoriam Renee Good
We are a field
untilled, an empty
echoing well, a trellis
winter’s stripped of its vine,
a bell held still,
a river muzzled
by ice, a widow
bewildered
by the abrupt bark
of a gun
•
No one knows
when river ice
will break up –
it rots from inside
then jams, erects
a barricade
•
Listen – the river
groans
the bellringer
pulls on the rope
On the Blue Line
Chicago, January 2026
Sunday afternoon, snow driven by wind. We weren’t surprised to find two seats together. Who goes out in this weather?
But at the next stop, and the stop after that, the car filled up, puffy coats, scarves pulled up, hats pulled down. Signs in their mittened hands, Estoy aquí por los que no pueden venir, ICE OFF OUR STREETS, Silverio Villegas González, Renee Nicole Good, Alex Pretti. Justice for, justice for, when will this end? Drawing of a blue hat worn by a five-year-old standing in the snow, held by a man who isn’t his father.
The train grew warm.
We had nothing in our hands.
Susanna Lang divides her time between Chicago and Uzès, France. Her most recent chapbook, Like This, was released in 2023 (Unsolicited Books), along with her translations of poems by Souad Labbize, My Soul Has No Corners (Diálogos Books). A new collection of Souad Labbize’s poems, Unfasten the Silk of Your Silence, was published in 2025 by Éditions des Lisières, and her translation of My Forests by Hélène Dorion is forthcoming from Book*Hug Press. Her fourth full-length collection of poems, This Spangled Dark, is forthcoming from Cornerstone Press. Her poems, translations and reviews have appeared in such publications as The Common, Asymptote, Tupelo Quarterly, American Life in Poetry, Rhino Reviews, Mayday and The Slowdown. Her translations of poetry by Yves Bonnefoy include Words in Stone and The Origin of Language, and she is now working with Hélène Dorion and Christine Guinard on new translations. More information is available at www.susannalang.com.
Photo credit: A La Plage TX.
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