They tolled from a church
I didn’t belong to

but that didn’t stop me
most Sunday mornings

from cranking a creaky
window open—

the only one on
that side of the house—

before sitting down
with a fresh mug of coffee

to drink in the sounds
those bells would bring.

Mark Madigan is the author of a chapbook, Thump and other poems, published in 2019 by Finishing Line Press. After a career in government service, he received an MFA in Writing from Spalding University in Louisville, Kentucky. His poems have previously appeared in The American Scholar, The Broadkill Review, Third Wednesday and other journals. New work is forthcoming from The Northern Virginia Review.