Support 110 years of independent journalism.

  1. Culture
  2. Poetry
2 November 2016

Poem: “Triple Witching”

That’s not smog sitting on the lake . . .

By ZoA« Hitzig

That’s not smog sitting on the lake

But smoke blown south from the fires

In Saskatchewan. The sky never asks

Our opinion and yet we charge all manner

Of missive through it, casual as the first

Select and enter your email address Your weekly guide to the best writing on ideas, politics, books and culture every Saturday - from the New Statesman. Sign up directly at saturdayread.substack.com The New Statesman's quick and essential guide to the news and politics of the day. Sign up directly at morningcall.substack.com Stay up to date with NS events, subscription offers & updates. Weekly analysis of the shift to a new economy from the New Statesman's Spotlight on Policy team.
  • Administration / Office
  • Arts and Culture
  • Board Member
  • Business / Corporate Services
  • Client / Customer Services
  • Communications
  • Construction, Works, Engineering
  • Education, Curriculum and Teaching
  • Environment, Conservation and NRM
  • Facility / Grounds Management and Maintenance
  • Finance Management
  • Health - Medical and Nursing Management
  • HR, Training and Organisational Development
  • Information and Communications Technology
  • Information Services, Statistics, Records, Archives
  • Infrastructure Management - Transport, Utilities
  • Legal Officers and Practitioners
  • Librarians and Library Management
  • Management
  • Marketing
  • OH&S, Risk Management
  • Operations Management
  • Planning, Policy, Strategy
  • Printing, Design, Publishing, Web
  • Projects, Programs and Advisors
  • Property, Assets and Fleet Management
  • Public Relations and Media
  • Purchasing and Procurement
  • Quality Management
  • Science and Technical Research and Development
  • Security and Law Enforcement
  • Service Delivery
  • Sport and Recreation
  • Travel, Accommodation, Tourism
  • Wellbeing, Community / Social Services
Visit our privacy Policy for more information about our services, how New Statesman Media Group may use, process and share your personal data, including information on your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications.
THANK YOU

Man (surely it was “man”) who cried

“This is mine” or the man who believed him.

Content from our partners
"Homesharing helps us get a better work-life balance"
How to empower your employees to stay cyber secure
<strong>The energy sector reform the UK needs</strong>

I do not know whose smoke-curtain

This is, falling now to subdue,

Pressing down over humming

Flesh and interaction.

But I think my chest is a pocket of sky –

Slow, heart. Speed, up and up.

Find. Cadence, frequency at which to

Resist, enclosure. Oppose motion.

Suspend of ever-maddening.

Frenzy, maddening for want of

Space, volatility implied by the threat of

Expiration. The nothing-and-every-

thing-to-lose. As we turn down to sleep

The nocturnal crowds in bushes and

Trees play from where we have paused.

A gnat traps himself in my left ear.

Options – drone, hum, buzz – expire.

Zoë Hitzig is an American poet living in Cambridge.

This article appears in the 25 Oct 2016 issue of the New Statesman, American Rage