Poetry By Bonnie Proudfoot

Mark Collins CC




Where does good tone come from?

        (“3 ways to create good tone on a harmonica 
        are mouth shape, relaxation, breath” -Grant Dermody)

Maybe the belly of a fat gator,
or a vault in the basement 
of Sun Records, Memphis,
or the pistons of a John Deere,
a Chessie locomotive, or 
the A train to Harlem.
Maybe the bottom of the box
that holds your past, the one 
you haven’t unpacked for decades
on purpose.  Maybe the croak 
of a single raven on the top 
of a spruce on a hill in Sitka
on the shortest day. Maybe
the book of your tone will
suspend you like a mystery,
you will never guess the ending,
you will make your own infinity.
Maybe the moon is as deep
as it is round. Maybe your tone
is a bell made of amber, a bell 
made of iron, maybe you must
unbury the great ones to find it.
Unlatch the door. Maybe your 
tone will knock once or not at all.
There’s work to be done. Open 
that box of secrets and forgive 
each desire that wrecked you. 
There’s a river in you. There’s a fist 
willing to unclench, an open
hand you can offer back 
to yourself. Once you find 
it, you can give it away.

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Bonnie Proudfoot's fiction, poetry, reviews, and essays have appeared in anthologies and journals, including Sheila-Na-Gig, SWWIM, Gyroscope Review, Rattle, and the New Ohio Review, and have been nominated for Best of the Net and the Pushcart. Her novel Goshen Road (OU/ Swallow) received the WCONA Book of the Year and was long-listed for the PEN/ Hemingway. Poetry books include Household Gods, a chapbook, on Sheila-Na-Gig Editions, and Incomer, released in 2026 on Shadelandhouse Modern Press.