James B. Nicola

James B. Nicola is the author of eight collections of poetry, the latest three being Fires of Heaven: Poems of Faith and Sense, Turns & Twists, and Natural Tendencies. His nonfiction book, Playing the Audience: The Practical Actor’s Guide to Live Performance, won a Choice magazine award. He has received a Dana Literary Award, two Willow Review awards, Storyteller's People's Choice magazine award, one Best of Net, one Rhysling, and eleven Pushcart nominations—for which he feels stunned and grateful. A graduate of Yale, James hosts the Writers' Roundtable at his library branch in Manhattan: walk-ins are always welcome.

Residency II

This bleak scenario of doom you choose,

you can exchange for one in which you'll thrive.

So many are the times I've learned to lose

by not replacing a known faulty fuse,

electric or emotional. Yes, I've

learned from scenarios of doom—yet choose

not to replace the plug or person who’s

sent warning signals three weeks . . . four months . . . five

years. Many is the time we simply lose

because a couple things (love? . . . hope?) confuse

us. But at other times the fateful dive,

scenario well recognized, we choose.

That's love and hope. And what's another bruise

but proof it's possible to be alive

despite the lives and loves we've learned to lose?

Be wary, then, but know I'm here to use.

That's love. That's hope. That's knowing I'll survive.

Any scenario of you—I choose,

yes, one more time. What more have I to lose?