“The Best Hour of the Night” by Tony Hoagland

An excerpt from “The Best Hour of the Night” by Tony Hoagland, available in The American Journal of Poetry:

 

“The Best Hour of the Night”

After the guests have gone home
and the plates and glasses have been washed and put away
and the beloved retired to her bed,

I find that I am granted
this stretch of time
as open as a prairie or a favorite song.

I come into it like an inheritance
I did not know I had been waiting for,
or like a slice of cake… […continue reading here]