Anne Stenzel
Summer 2025 | Poetry
Momentum
is the river is the wind is the long wave is
the green field seen first from a distance and then
from closer to knowing what the green is made of
long grass not every blade the same length not
every blade the same green even though
from the place where you first saw the swath
vaguely move as though the hill itself were mobile
and aiming the length of the landscape toward
some unimagined destination
at that very moment the word that filled your mind
was emerald but what followed that word was not another gem no
no it was music with the force of rushing water
the way that chamber group tackled the last stretch
of Schubert’s Death and the Maiden and the notes raced
toward the composer’s genius conclusion
because momentum drives the green fuse
and the flower the fever and the rocks the mountain spring
the mountain’s end and all the other endings yes
because they all hurtle toward me, aimed for my heart
Annie Stenzel (she/her) is a lesbian poet who was born in Illinois, but did not stay put. Her second full-length collection, Don’t misplace the moon, was published last year by Kelsay Books. Her poems have appeared or are forthcoming in print and online journals in the U.S. and the U.K., including Atlanta Review, Gavialidae, Night Heron Barks, One Art, Rust + Moth, Saranac Review, Sheila-na-Gig, SoFloPoJo, SWWIM, The Lake, Thimble, and UCity Review. A poetry editor for the online journals Right Hand Pointing and West Trestle Review, she lives on unceded Ohlone land within walking distance of the San Francisco Bay.