hello Manko-

I'm not going to type them all out, but here are some of my favorites:

"Lost Land" Eavan Boland

"St. Francis and the Sow" Galway Kinnell

"Dogfish" Mary Oliver - fuck , really anything by Mary Oliver except for poems from her second newest book Red Bird- that one was all yay god - her partner had just died

"Signs at the Table" Amanda Berenger - I think you'd really appreciate this one; hard to find, though; it is published in a rare south american anthology of women poets called We Are Not Sweet Girls-- White Pine Press

and do you know Alice Walker? She has a new book of poetry that is called Hard Times Require Furious Dancing that is fabulous!

crystos

Ran across this translation in an anthology 20 years ago (to the month, actually), and it's stuck with me ever since.

Fable
***

Once upon a time
there was a lonely wolf
lonelier than the angels.

He happened to come to a village.
He fell in love with the first house he saw.

Already he loved its walls
the caresses of its bricklayers.
But the windows stopped him.

In the room sat people.
Apart from God nobody ever
found them so beautiful
as this child-like beast.

So at night he went into the house.
He stopped in the middle of the room
and never moved from there any more.

He stood all through the night, wieth wide eyes
and on into morning when he was beaten to death.

Janos Pilinzky
translation by Ted Hughes





It's a little grim, I guess.

New set? Creaming. Right now.

I will have to get back to you on the poem part. I like a lot of poetry...*off to dig thru my books and websites...*

Also-I tried learning french a few times. I abandoned that dream.

I wish you were going to be at this UK shoot so we could sit around, sip Jager and reminisce about the old times.

Found some new and excellent poets because you asked a good question. Thank you.

I LOVE YOU by Ella Wheeler Wilcox

I love your lips when they’re wet with wine
And red with a wild desire;
I love your eyes when the lovelight lies
lit with a passionate fire;
I love your arms when the warm white flesh
touches mine in a fond embrace;
I love your hair when the strands enmesh
your kisses against my face.

Not for me the cold, calm kiss
of a virgin’s bloodless love;
Not for me the saint’s white bliss
nor the heart of a spotless dove.
But give me the love that so freely gives
and laughs at the whole world’s blame,
with your body so young and warm in my arms,
it sets my poor heart aflame.

So kiss me sweet with your warm, wet mouth,
still fragrant with ruby wine,
And say with a fervor borne of the south
that your body and soul are mine.
Clasp me close in your warm, young arms,
while the pale stars shine above
And we’ll live our whole young lives away
in the joys of a living love.

SWEET VIOLETS by Dorothy Parker

You are brief and frail and blue
Little sisters, I am, too.
You are Heaven's masterpieces
Little loves, the likeness ceases.

Annabelle Lee by Edgar Allan Poe

It was many and many a year ago,
In a kingdom by the sea,
That a maiden there lived whom you may know
By the name of Annabelle Lee;
And this maiden she lived with no other thought,
Than to love and be loved by me.

I was a child and she was a child,
In this kingdom by the sea;
But we loved with a love that was more than love-
I and my Annabel Lee;
With a love that the winged seraphs of heaven
Coveted her and me.

And this was the reason that, long ago,
In this kingdom by the sea,
A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling
My beautiful Annabel Lee;
So that her highborn kinsman came
And bore her away from me,
To shut her up in a sepulchre
In this kingdom by the sea.

The angels, not half so happy in heaven,
Went envying her and me-
Yes!- that was the reason (as all men know,
In this kingdom by the sea)
That the wind came out of the cloud by night,
Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee.

But our love it was stronger by far than the love
Of those who were older than we-
Of many far wiser than we-
And neither the angels in heaven above,
Nor the demons down under the sea,
Can ever dissever my soul from the soul
Of the beautiful Annabelle Lee.

For the moon never beams without bringing me dreams
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And the stars never rise but I feel the bright eyes
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side
Of my darling- my darling- my life and my bride,
In the sepulchre there by the sea,
In her tomb by the sounding sea.

<3

Under normal circumstances I would have suggested one of my favorite poems such as "Bowery Blues" by Kerouac or anything from "A Coney Island of the Mind"... probably "Christ Climbed Down"... but since I'm holed up in rural Vermont trying desperately to get my shit together and to save my remaining sanity I'm going to add a couple of lines from that master of dessicated yankee doggerel who's so revered in these parts, Robert Frost. From "Reluctance":

The heart is still aching to seek
But the feet question "Whither?"

Perfectly sums up my life as it is now. xoxo

You ask for poetry so I give you a song I wrote back in 2002. It has a melody and structure, but so far various musicians have struggled to put backing music to these vocals. So I haven't performed it on stage other than informally and a capella. It has been in my mind these last few days as I write new material, so I thought it most appropriate for my offering to you.

Fits of Madness~ Written by me, in high school. It won an award...

Keeping to myself
Safe in my head,
Screaming in halls
They tear up their beds.
Throbbing in pain,
They bang on their doors.
My head is like lead,
They cry on the floor.
There's no room for thought,
They catch me in tears,
I'm screaming in pain,
hands over my ears.
I can't hear my voice,
I'm drowning in sound.
Only my thoughts
have been burned to the ground.
I'm laying on my bed,
forced and restrained;
I feel like an animal:
wild and untamed.
The prick of a needle,
And I quiet my voice.
I'm locked in my room,
I don't have much choice.
I'm safe and I'm sound,
Calm once again.
I never asked for this,
It's not something I bargained.

PS...I can't wait to see the newest set!