Everywhere, everywhere she wrote:
something is falling -
a ring of keys slips out of her pocket
a ring of keys slips out of her pocket
into the ravine below,
nickels and dimes and to do lists;
nickels and dimes and to do lists;
duck feathers from a gold pillow.
Everywhere someone is losing
Everywhere someone is losing
a favorite sock or a clock stops
circling the day; everywhere she goes
circling the day; everywhere she goes
she follows the ghost of her heart;
jettisons everything but the shepherd moon,
jettisons everything but the shepherd moon,
the hopeless cause.
This is the way life unfolds:
This is the way life unfolds:
decoding messages from profiteroles,
the weight of mature plums in late autumn.
the weight of mature plums in late autumn.
She'd prefer a compass
rose, a star chart, text support messages
rose, a star chart, text support messages
delivered from the net,
even the local pet shop - as long as some god
even the local pet shop - as long as some god
rolls away the gloss
and grime of our gutted days,
and grime of our gutted days,
our global positioning crimes.
Tell me, where do you go to pray -
Tell me, where do you go to pray -
a river valley, a party tray?
a poem by SUSAN RICH
i know nothing of this poet
this poem was sent to me
by a gentleman with whom i
shared a bottle of wine
and some conversation
a month ago or so
one saturday afternoon
i don't know what to think
of this poem
it hangs together nicely
and the internal rhymes are attractive
and it at least alludes to
something interesting by way
of spiritual struggle
in a world unstable
like the one we all know
so
thank you
SUSAN RICH
for this little poem
a poem by SUSAN RICH
i know nothing of this poet
this poem was sent to me
by a gentleman with whom i
shared a bottle of wine
and some conversation
a month ago or so
one saturday afternoon
i don't know what to think
of this poem
it hangs together nicely
and the internal rhymes are attractive
and it at least alludes to
something interesting by way
of spiritual struggle
in a world unstable
like the one we all know
so
thank you
SUSAN RICH
for this little poem
because of the line break restraints
on this blog template
i am forced to turn a series of couplets
into a series of quatrains
i should hope the poet will not be
too awfully offended
3 comments:
Party tray?
my experience in reading the poem came to a full stop with that allusion - the party tray -
but it must have some connection to profiteroles - which i learned are little cream puffs
susan rich seems to be a traveler in many different circles
around the world
a few other poems i read have food references
i suppose one could use the idea of the party tray as a metaphor for the paten the plate used for eucharist
i always think of garrison keillors' powdermilk biscuits as a metaphor for the eucharist - they give you the courage to get up and do what needs to be done
Ok. I find party tray to be a thing about trifles. And found it trifling. But ok. It didn't work for me. Garrison Keillor doesn't either. But I think you have a wiser, rounder, faith than I have got.
Communion wafers, I've read recently, are made in northern New Jersey at some factory there. Or at least 90% of them are. Sounds like an article for someone to write in terms of an investigative history of this outfit.
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