I slant into doubt like a car turning too close into the oncoming plow. I know I should veer far from it, lean into the snow banks rather than into the blade, and yet the whole day has been tilted into hesitation: how much fuel do I burn just staying on track? How much resolution just keeping the course? Doubt reclaims my lane, allays the quest for a smooth escape. The detour slices the sound of the storm and offers a recourse: burrow into the snow the way I commit to finishing what I started and arriving on time. In the old days, I used to pray. Now, I steer free of the delay of second guessing, squint into the glow of the sleet. ///// Read more of Lucia Cherciu’s poems and reviews here on Lightwood. Scroll down and enter her name on our Search link. Her book of poetry, "Immigrant Prodigal Daughter," has been reviewed here. Lucia Cherciu is the author of six books of poetry, including Immigrant Prodigal Daughter (Kelsay Books, 2023), Train Ride to Bucharest (Sheep Meadow Press, 2017), which received the Eugene Paul Nassar Poetry Prize, Edible Flowers (Main Street Rag, 2016), Lalele din Paradis / Tulips in Paradise (Editura Eikon, 2017), Altoiul Râsului / Grafted Laughter (Editura Brumar, 2010), and Lepădarea de Limbă / The Abandonment of Language (Editura Vinea, 2009). Her work was nominated three times for a Pushcart Prize and three times for Best of the Net and has appeared in numerous publications. She received her Ph.D. in English from Indiana University of Pennsylvania with the dissertation titled “Luddicrous ‘Scribbling Women’: The Politics of Laughter and Nineteenth-Century American Women Writers.” Cherciu is a Professor of English at SUNY / Dutchess Community College and served as the 2021-2022 Dutchess County, New York poet laureate. Her web page is http://luciacherciu.webs.com.
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