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Poems from Country of Memory |
In the Woods, 1951 | ||
I remember how
the light pawed down and, in the
green drench of summer, we were kings of the forest and not its slowly drowning sons. |
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Learning to Dance, 1956 |
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It was the
50s, and all of us were kids, but you were older — almost a woman — and you would teach me to
dance. You were my best
friend’s sister. how to hold
you — how to hold I was falling
into shadows. When I breathed
to a clearing
where tall grasses whispered
You moved me
deeper into the music
to change the
moment, if only the quiet
that I had
rhythm that I could swing,
who would pull
me near to her in love, |
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A Summer Night | ||
Dark country
night,
Such a warm
summer night,
But Father
said it was high time
And I called
out in anger
But then the
cottage door |
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What the End Was Like |
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All I could
see was my mother’s broken face. It had the dry pallor of a desiccated leaf. I forced myself to look closer, to stare
at the pale
lashes that barely clung a slender
drift of whiteness. The breath still lived
to the bed
where her soul was unhooking itself
and knew that
the darkness of space had entered her. |
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