On The Eiffel Tower by Christopher Buckley The wrought iron was strung up purely in the substanceless abstraction of thought, set somehow against all the trips and balances of nothing, the engineering of the air. Above the pylons he arched the shrinking heavens with girders resembling an aviary or pergola, then figured out the twelveContinue reading “On the Eiffel Tower by Christopher Buckley”
Tag Archives: poets
A Drama in the Luxembourg Gardens by Jacques Réda
A Drama in the Luxembourg Gardens by Jacques Réda Between the chestnut trees with nothing else to do But ponder their chestnuts (how smooth they are, how round) And the great pond where the rain, too, makes its rounds, A child has abandoned his toy to pursue An old, swaggering pigeon. Such a humid day,Continue reading “A Drama in the Luxembourg Gardens by Jacques Réda”
Danvers, Illinois by Richard Spilman
Danvers, Illinois by Richard Spilman There were words Straight as corn, Simple to the tongue as corn, Sentences seried like a field In neat geometrics; And there were moments When the wind stopped And the corn stood silent And heat etched whorls Like rolled glass above the road, When we lifted our heads And listened.Continue reading “Danvers, Illinois by Richard Spilman”
Along Lake Michigan by Brad Leithauser
Along Lake Michiganby Brad Leithauser The road abruptly changed to dirt,Thinned until grasses brushedThe car on both sides, and thenEnded in a loop before the marsh.We hiked along an arm of land heldFirm by cedars, the lake breakingLike an ocean on one side,The rippling, flooded wetlands wideAs a lake on the other.You found a broadContinue reading “Along Lake Michigan by Brad Leithauser”
Ohio Fields After Rain by David Baker
Ohio Fields After Rainby David Baker The slow humped backs of ice ceasedto shadow the savannahs of Ohio millenniaago, right where we’ve sailed to a stop.The shaken woman leaves open her car doorand familiar as relatives we touch handsin the middle of the wet black road.To the north new corn enriches by the hour. SouthContinue reading “Ohio Fields After Rain by David Baker”
The Late Wisconsin Spring by John Koethe
The Late Wisconsin Spring by John Koethe Snow melts into the earth and a gentle breezeLoosens the damp gum wrappers, the stale leavesLeft over from autumn, and the dead brown grass.The sky shakes itself out. And the invisible birdsWinter put away somewhere return, the air relaxes,People start to circulate again in twos and threes.The dominant feelingsContinue reading “The Late Wisconsin Spring by John Koethe”
When in Wisconsin Where I Once Had Time by John Engels
When in Wisconsin Where I Once Had Timeby John Engels When in Wisconsin where I once had timethe flyway swans came whistlingto the rotten Green Bay ice and stayed,not feeding, four days, maybe five, I shouted and threw stones to see them fly.Blue herons followed, or came first.I shot a bittern’s wing off with myContinue reading “When in Wisconsin Where I Once Had Time by John Engels”
Rune of the Finland Woman by Marilyn Hacker
Rune of the Finland Womanby Marilyn Hacker For Sára Karig “You are so wise,” the reindeer said, “you can bind the winds of the world in a single strand.” H. C. Andersen, “The Snow Queen” She could bind the world’s winds in a single strand.She could find the world’s words in a singing wind.She could lendContinue reading “Rune of the Finland Woman by Marilyn Hacker”
[London, my beautiful] by F.S. Flint
[London, my beautiful]by F.S. Flint London, my beautiful,it is not the sunsetnor the pale green skyshimmering through the curtainof the silver birch,nor the quietness;it is not the hoppingof birdsupon the lawn,nor the darknessstealing over all thingsthat moves me. But as the moon creeps slowlyover the treetopsamong the stars,I think of herand the glow her passingshedsContinue reading “[London, my beautiful] by F.S. Flint”
California Hills in August by Dana Gioia
California Hills in August by Dana Gioia I can imagine someone who found these fields unbearable, who climbed the hillside in the heat, cursing the dust, cracking the brittle weeds underfoot, wishing a few more trees for shade. An Easterner especially, who would scorn the meagerness of summer, the dry twisted shapes of black elm,Continue reading “California Hills in August by Dana Gioia”
POETRY and PLACES 