Who made the world? Who made the swan, and the black bear? Who made the grasshopper? This grasshopper, I mean- the one who has flung herself out of the grass, the one who is eating sugar out of my hand, who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down- who is … Continue reading
Life While-You-Wait. Performance without rehearsal. Body without alterations. Head without premeditation. I know nothing of the role I play. I only know it’s mine, I can’t exchange it. I have to guess on the spot just what this play’s all about. Ill-prepared for the privilege of living, I can barely keep up with the pace … Continue reading
He left the office where he’d taken up a trivial, poorly paid job (eight pounds a month, including bonuses)— left at the end of the dreary work that kept him bent all afternoon, came out at seven and walked off slowly, idling his way down the street. Good-looking; and interesting: showing as he did that … Continue reading
When I have baked white cakes And grated green almonds to spread on them; When I have picked the green crowns from the strawberries And piled them, cone-pointed, in a blue and yellow platter; When I have smoothed the seam of the linen I have been working; What then? To-morrow it will be the same: … Continue reading
“And then something amazing happened. The big grouse stopped beating his wings, called out, and the other grouse immediately stopped, ruffled their feathers so that they appeared to grow twice their size, then started dancing again, but in the other direction. You’d never seen anything like it in your life. Nobody would believe such a … Continue reading
You do not always know what I am feeling. Last night in the warm spring air while I was blazing my tirade against someone who doesn’t interest me, it was love for you that set me afire, and isn’t it odd? for in rooms full of strangers my most tender feelings writhe and bear the … Continue reading
Sock hops snowdrops late nights play fights lighting friendly fires in the front yard burn up your green card tear through your punch card tomorrow you’ll want a new sweater tonight we just kiss through bad weather keeping our clever little chins warm as we let our scarves unravel on the front gate. Now find … Continue reading
Afterwards, when we have slept, paradise- comaed and woken, we lie a long time looking at each other. I do not know what he sees, but I see eyes of surpassing tenderness and calm, a calm like the dignity of matter. I love the open ocean blue-grey-green of his iris, I love the curve of … Continue reading
Out of the night and the north; Savage of breed and of bone, Shaggy and swift comes the yelping band, Freighters of fur from the voiceless land That sleeps in the Arctic zone. Laden with skins from the north, Beaver and bear and raccoon, Marten and mink from the polar belts, Otter and ermine and … Continue reading
One does not build a house collecting cutlery even though a few extra spoons come in handy sometimes. One does not build a house from new curtains even though different views from time to time should be shielded by new cloth. For a home to be a home, among other things you need a lot … Continue reading
on the road near to where the Assiniboine twists and ice skaters play, a cardboard sign held by a bandaged hand reads “pawned my heart for a warm meal” standing underneath mighty elm trees with branches crackling under the weight of winter snow and sorrow where the cold burns my eyes and the tears freeze … Continue reading
Sundays too my father got up early and put his clothes on in the blueblack cold, then with cracked hands that ached from labor in the weekday weather made banked fires blaze. No one ever thanked him. I’d wake and hear the cold splintering, breaking. When the rooms were warm, he’d call, and slowly I … Continue reading
Sorrow everywhere. Slaughter everywhere. If babies are not starving someplace, they are starving somewhere else. With flies in their nostrils. But we enjoy our lives because that’s what God wants. Otherwise the mornings before summer dawn would not be made so fine. The Bengal tiger would not be fashioned so miraculously well. The poor women … Continue reading
Our God, our help in ages past, Our hope for years to come, Our shelter from the stormy blast, And our eternal home: Under the shadow of thy throne Thy saints have dwelt secure; Sufficient is thine arm alone, And our defense is sure. Before the hills in order stood Or earth received her frame, … Continue reading
The hens in the dusty twilight of the chicken coop sing in strange low voices, not the squawking we think we know, for that is what they do when we are near. Weird sisters these, all white the dance they do while the woman sleeps. Her own small egg, perhaps her last, travels the … Continue reading
May your coming year be filled with magic and dreams and good madness. I hope you read some fine books and kiss someone who thinks you are wonderful. and don’t forget to make some art- write or draw or build or sing or live as only you can. And I hope, somewhere, in the next … Continue reading
It little profits that an idle king, By this still hearth, among these barren crags, Match’d with an aged wife, I mete and dole Unequal laws unto a savage race, That hoard, and sleep, and feed, and know not me. I cannot rest from travel: I will drink Life to the lees: All times I … Continue reading
There is a hush now while the hills rise up and God is going to sleep. He trusts the ship of Heaven to take over and proceed beautifully as he lies dreaming in the lap of the world. He knows the owls will guard the sweetness of the soul in their massive keep of silence, … Continue reading
the whole hospital hurt. my bed hugged a corner and the ward ached away from me. endlessly away. I remember Nurse Merz, who saved my leg, and Fender, who lost his. mine was a small world. we had clean sheets. no one wanted to kill us at night. it was Christmas. after rounds, the medics … Continue reading
Although the roof is just a story high, It dizzies me a little to look down. I lariat-twirl the cord of Christmas lights And cast it to the weeping birch’s crown; A dowel into which I’ve screwed a hook Enables me to reach, lift, drape, and twine The cord among the boughs so that the … Continue reading
A DAMSEL'S COMPENDIUM 