Poem of the Week: “Patience” by Justin Quinn

If April is the cruelest month, then February is the most tedious. We’ve moved past the initial rush of the new year, and now we’re in the depth of winter, waiting for spring. At WFU Press, we’re also preparing for the release of Volume IV of The Wake Forest Series of Irish Poetry. This week’s poem by Justin Quinn comes from Volume III. This poem captures our current spirit of waiting and anticipation, and how time seems to move and stand still simultaneously when we’re looking forward to things to come.

Patience

Game after game
I deal myself—
no hand the same—
and the hours dissolve.

King up, ace out,
gather and fold…
I am about
forty years old

or ten, wide-eyed.
I am my mother
or father. Outside
there is some weather.

–Justin Quinn, The Wake Forest Series of Irish Poetry, Volume III (2013)