a few fragments from amazing women

Poetry season, seasonable, and forever, and always

especially these exceptional women

 

"Bodily"

From that bomb shell moon in yet another lovely dress
To the deep mahogany sheen of a roach
I am trying to take an appreciative approach
To life in your wake
I focus on the quiet now
And occasionally I'll fall asleep somehow
And emptiness has its solace
In that there's nothing left to take

Ani Difranco

 

"The Last Song"

how can you stand it
he said
the hot oklahoma summers
where you were born
this humid thick air
is choking me
and i want to go back
to new mexico

it is the only way
i know how to breathe
an ancient chant
that my mother knew
came out of a history
woven from wet tall grass
in her womb
and I know no other way
than to surround my voice
with the summer songs of crickets
in this moist south night air

oklahoma will be the last song

i'll ever sing

            Joy Harjo

 

"Nonreading"

Bookstores don't provide

a remote control for Proust,

you can't switch
to a soccer match,

or a quiz show, win a Cadillac.

We live longer
but less precisely
and in shorter sentences.

We travel faster, farther, more often,

but bring back slides instead of memories.

            Wislawa Szymorska