As readers, we are present in a moment of profound realization in Bianca Rey’s poem “That Night Mongaup Pond Went Silent”. In a fireside discussion of God and holiness, the narrator of the vibrant mysterious imagery of this poem discovers their own truth of faith. As a reader, the silence and darkness in the poem’s conclusion is palpable.
That Night Mongaup Pond Went Silent
The storm drove off all surrounding campers
leaving the four of us sitting crescent-like
in front of the pit lit with fire. The pit,
Yianni shared, was a part of God,
like the chairs we sat on, like us—
“Everything is.” The unbreaking darkness
behind him, his black hood, his long hair
narrowed his face to eyes so I was
between his eyes and the darkness
behind me where what I said should be
meant. I was largely silent.
Not out of fear—finally—of being
void of belief, but the relief of needing
to say God is not everything but
what we choose to make of the face
turning from us for good or toward us
with uncaught intent—and in choosing
we fall like a speck on the gradient.
These thoughts clarified His image
like a clearing revealing the moon;
I attended the depth of darkness beyond
the fire where embers floated upward—
all night I sensed it behind me.
Bianca Rey
Bianca Rey is a Queens native poet living in Brooklyn. She earned her MFA in Creative Writing from Hunter College and teaches English at the undergraduate level.
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her words created a space to think; quite enjoyable 🙂