Radio by Mark Kirschen

Radio
Mark Kirschen

Deep in the body
A radio

Tells us stories to withstand
The cold—
A fine net of signals
That shock to the touch

Lie down by the fire

Now the ice will form
The trees turn to stone

And soon enough
You will feel lightly
For the warmth over your heart

SELECTED BY TOM SNARSKY

Poetry, including 20th-century American poetry, is full of metaphors for how it arrives to its vassals & vessels, the poets. John Ashbery talked of an “underground river” that he dipped into for his poems (and, like Mark Kirschen, he was quintessentially a New York poet); Jack Spicer gave us the memorable Martians, a.k.a. a model for poems as transmissions from outer space (“For Jack Spicer” is one of the early poems in Pier’s End, the book that also includes “Radio”). Mark Kirschen’s model, the radio, stands out among these for being a source of inner warmth — something “to withstand / The cold—”. This poem has been with me, “over [my] heart” since I first read it — and I hope it stays with you even on those dark, silent days, and sends you “A fine net of signals” when you need them most.

ABOUT TOM SNARSKY

Tom Snarsky’s most recent book is A Letter From The Mountain & Other Poems, published by Animal Heart Press. He is also the author of the chapbooks Threshold (Another New Calligraphy) and Complete Sentences (Broken Sleep Books), as well as the full-length poetry collections Light-Up Swan and Reclaimed Water (both from Ornithopter Press). MOUNTEBANK is forthcoming from Broken Sleep Books in 2026. He lives in the mountains of northwestern Virginia with his wife Kristi and their cats.