fingers drum, annoy
but the hand’s beloved, warm
Don’t stop, Fingers—DRUM!
James B. Nicola, a returning contributor to Rue Scribe, is the author of eight collections of poetry, the latest being Fires of Heaven (2021), Turns & Twists (2022), and Natural Tendencies (2023). His nonfiction book Playing the Audience won a Choice magazine award. A Yale grad, he hosts the Hell’s Kitchen International Writers’ Roundtable at his library branch in Manhattan: walk-ins welcome.