We hear their songs and know their season is ending.
Some other sound will be in charge of keeping us awake,
of telling us that the night is not yet our place to rest.
Their compulsion, passion, and complaint are the notes
that night sings through frog-voices. Each frog, like a young poet,
like who I used to be, stays hidden, stays to itself—
loud-throated, nervous, and insistent. Each dares us
to find him, to forget his friends. Each song demands
that the singer be chosen to love. But none can
sing alone. There are no solos. Just parts in a chorus.
The night writes our music in dark ink across a dark page.
By sunrise, dew falls then dries and frog-voices fade.
—
Paul Jones’ poems landed on the moon in February 2024. His books are Something Wonderful (2021) and Something Necessary (2024), both from Redhawk Press. Recent poems appear in Hudson Review, Salvation South, Southern Poetry Review, New Verse Review, and in Best American Erotic Poems (1800-Present). Jones was inducted into the NC State Computer Science Hall of Fame in 2021. smalljones.com
