The Cicadas of September | Matt Mason
The song of summer is cicada drone,
buzz and flow in surround sound stereo
where every tree you walk past
adds notes to the whole grand chorus.
You only see them at the end
of their measures,
when you open your front door
and see one there on your porch
in a body that crunches
if you dare to touch it—
though its wings look soft, still, virtuoso
in meditation before their obbligato,
as if ready to snap and decide
between finale and flight.
About the Author:
Matt Mason has run poetry workshops in Botswana, Romania, Nepal, and Belarus for the U.S. State Department and his poetry has appeared in The New York Times. Matt is the Nebraska State Poet and has received a Pushcart Prize as well as fellowships from the Academy of American Poets and the Nebraska Arts Council. His work can be found on NPR’s Morning Edition, in American Life in Poetry, and in several hundred other publications. Mason’s 5th book, Rock Stars, was released by Button Poetry, September, 2023. His website is: https://midverse.com/