Limited Edition

Suzanne Morris

March 1, 2026

Downbeat from bad news along the road,

you spin the radio dial

to the show that will only play

for a little while.

He only recorded so many songs,

and only for so long will that

sphere of refractive mirrors

keep spinning above the floor

glittering your shoulders

with starlight

opening the magical wings

of Your Night.

Hello again, hello, he sings

catching you in his spell:

you are Kentucky Woman, Sweet Caroline,

and Desirée wrapped into one,

hair swept back, caught in

a cascade of pinned-on curls,

vision in soft white linen

with above-the-knees hem,

wide cummerbund

of saucy golden coins that

flash, flutter and flirt:

Here I am!

And Lord,

can you dance!

You are tall and lithe

and nimble:

past the awkwardness of 

tap and ballet lesson days;

innocent yet of 

the secret longings of middle age.

Svelte bare arms upraised,

palms out, fingers splayed

you spin on a dime,

Belinda was mine

and partners one by one recede into

the darkness of the night.

You are beautiful, no question;

every lyric sings your praise.

Velvet voice strumming

up and down your spine,

hips rotating, in you chime,

Thank the Lord for the Nighttime.

Thank the Lord for the moment 

the mid-twenties moment

most fleeting

of all,

recaptured in a sudden flash

of gold then

all too quickly gone,

spinning off

on the last note

of a song.

Before becoming a poet, Suzanne Morris was a novelist, with eight published works between 1976 and 2016.  Many of her early poems were featured in her fiction, to advance the underlying themes.  Since 2020, she has contributed poems to several anthologies, and has been published at a variety of online poetry journals, including The Texas Poetry Assignment.  A native Houstonian, Ms. Morris has resided in Cherokee County for 17 years.