Susan Rothbard

Susan Rothbard’s poetry has appeared in numerous journals including Poet Lore and Southern Poetry Review and has been featured in Ted Kooser’s “American Life in Poetry” and on Verse Daily. Her book, Birds of New Jersey, won the 2020 Dogfish Head Poetry Prize and was published by Broadkill River Press. “The Emerald City” was showcased in Arts by the People’s 2024 Intonation, a cross-national collaboration of poets, dancers, and musical composers.

The Emerald City

You’re no Dorothy, but you, too, would like

to go home, as in back to the way things

were before, though there’s no wizard behind

a curtain, no witch chasing you with winged

monkeys, and you keep stepping out of your shoes.

These days tick faster, and nothing fits—no chance

to catch up. And even if you could choose

the scene, would it be bicycling in France,

baguette fresh from the boulangerie strapped

to the basket? Or hearing the Boston Pops

play the score from E.T. live as you watched

the film? Why not push the needle, stop

the record from skipping back? What name

do you fear being called? Who says you can’t fly?