poems67

WHEN THE PRARIE SPEAKS
it whispers I�m wearing
my purple dress, my red slip,
now my golden wild underthings;
oh, can you recall, how

the breeze called you
out of that stone life, how
you and your love took flight,
skyward like startled pheasants;

it says I�m the distant hillside,
discovery in every season;
laid out, it whispers I�m yours;
be listening.
--Twyla Hansen
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METEORS
Memory sometimes orbits us like this:
The past will, sudden, flash across a synapse
and, for one bright second, take us back
to some sector of our universe we�d thought
we�d lost forever, some heat and light we�d caught
then tossed aside like any ordinary rock.
--Ron Wallace
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UNWANTING
(To get a grip on memory, hold your hands apart like so
and think this space, though definite,
can be minced into ever and much
smaller bits. And staring at that boundlessness
limited by skin, you�ll grasp it: things go
farther into diminishment
and still exist.)
--Alice Fulton
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BEFORE AN EXAMINATION
The little letters dance across the page,
Flaunt and retire, and trick the tired eyes;
Sick of the strain, the glaring light, I rise
Yawning and stretching, full of empty rage
At the dull maunderings of a long dead sage...
--Stephen Vincent Benet
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THE SEA
neruda once told me
that i should visit the sea
that to know a wave is to love
is to come and flow from one to another
the sand is like our hearts
so many parts to care for
so endless and yet it touches the sea
as one
--E. Ethelbert Miller
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EGO
God�s voice
Is caught in
The crackling commotion
Of thought,
Like dried leaves-
Breaking.
--Afaa Michael Weaver
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LOVE
So, the year�s done with
   (Love me forever!)
All March begun with,
   April�s endeavour;
May-wreaths that bound me,
   Quenching June�s fever-
   (Love me forever!)
--Robert Browning
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SNOW
Look up...
From bleakening hills
Blows down the light, first breath
Of wintry wind... look up, and scent
The snow!
--Adelaide Crapsey