Resonance — Summary

at night a body begins to ring

I love a cold moon it being dangerous to walk on water

Learn Poems app

Try the Learn Poems app

Everything from the website trainer, and more: new exercises, voice recording and sharing, reminders, quick review.

Three short lines set up a strange, quiet scene: at night, a body "begins to ring," like a bell struck by something unseen. The title, "Resonance," fits. Darkness seems to wake up a kind of inner vibration, a sensitivity that daytime noise covers over. The speaker doesn't explain it, which makes it feel both physical and a little mystical.

Then the tone shifts to a plain confession: "I love a cold moon." The reason that follows is surprising. The moon is loved because it is dangerous to walk on water, which suggests a cold, glassy light spread across a surface that looks solid but isn't. The speaker seems drawn to that risk, to beauty that tempts you to step out too far.

The mood is hushed, cool, and a bit thrilling. Fear and attraction sit side by side, and the poem leaves us with the feeling of standing at the edge of something, listening to ourselves hum.

Read also

More by Dave Bonta

All poems
ContemplativeDave Bonta

Plea bargain

I hear half a beat of drum to serve time have half a hope in the meantime praise God
DreamyDave Bonta

Cibola 3

I awake in the dark and shake free of sheets & blankets, of down-filled quilt. The rituals of waking– the long, hot shower, the coffee–give
ContemplativeDave Bonta

In good light

On a maple’s pale bark, a zigzag ladder—old tooth-marks from a wandering snail? Green islands of moss