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Posts published in “Poems”

Accomplished Facts

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EVERY year Emily Dickinson sent one friendthe first arbutus bud in her garden.  In a last will and testament Andrew Jacksonremembered a friend with the gift of GeorgeWashington’s pocket spy-glass.  Napoleon too,…

Rusty Crimson

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(Chirstmas Day, 1917)THE FIVE O’CLOCK prairie sunset is a strong man going to sleep after a long day in a cornfield.  The red dust of a rusty crimson is fixed with…

Adelaide Crapsey

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AMONG the bumble-bees in red-top hay, a freckled field of brown-eyed Susans dripping yellow leaves in July,        I read your heart in a book. And your mouth of blue pansy-I know…

Prayers of Steel

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LAY me on an anvil, O God.Beat me and hammer me into a crowbar.Let me pry loose old walls.Let me lift and loosen old foundations. Lay me on an anvil,…

Mammy Hums

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THIS is the song I rested with:The right shoulder of a strong man I leaned on.The face of the rain that drizzled on the short neck of a canal boat.The…

Humming Bird Woman

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WHY should I be wonderingHow you would look in black velvet and yellow? in orange and green?I who cannot remember whether it was a dash of blueOr a whirr of…

Jazz Fantasia

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DRUM on your drums, batter on your banjoes, sob on the long cool winding saxophones. Go to it, O jazzmen.  Sling your knuckles on the bottoms of the happy tin pans,…

Graceland

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Tomb of a millionaire,     A multi-millionaire, ladies and gentlemen,     Place of the dead where they spend every year     The usury of twenty-five thousand dollars     For upkeep and flowers     To keep…

Five Cent Balloons

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PIETRO has twenty red and blue balloons on a string.They flutter and dance pulling Pietro’s arm.A nickel apiece is what they sell for.  Wishing children tag Pietro’s heels.  He sells out and…

Psalm of Those Who Go Forth Before Daylight

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THE POLICEMAN buys shoes slow and careful;the teamster buys gloves slow and careful;they take care of their feet and hands;they live on their feet and hands. The milkman never argues;he…