https://offcourse.org
ISSN 1556-4975
Published by Ricardo and Isabel Nirenberg since 1998
"Before Evening," a poem by Judy Kronenfeld
Amidst somber shoals
of clouds, a stream of sun-melt,
coruscating like coals in a fire,
bright as lava.
Then, above, a frieze
of delicate, gilded cirrus tufts—
like sky-writing by a marvelous bird
dipping incombustible wings
in the molten flow.
Eclipsing gilt excrescences
of kings and wannabes, enrobed pagodas,
domes, sarcophagi—our star
lifts our mortal hearts once more,
when late gold, briefly, stays.
Judy Kronenfeld’s six full-length books of poetry include If Only There Were Stations of the Air (Sheila-Na-Gig Editions, 2024), Groaning and Singing (FutureCycle, 2022), Bird Flying through the Banquet (FutureCycle, 2017), and Shimmer (WordTech, 2012). Her third chapbook is Oh Memory, You Unlocked Cabinet of Amazements! (Bamboo Dart, 2024). Judy’s poems have appeared in four dozen anthologies and in such journals as Cider Press Review, Gyroscope Review, MacQueen’s Quinterly, New Ohio Review, Offcourse, One Art, Rattle, Sheila-Na-Gig, Valparaiso Poetry Review and Verdad. Her newest book is Apartness: A Memoir in Essays and Poems (Inlandia Institute, 2025).