Long Poems About Stevie Smith

( after Stevie Smith )
    
     
     
I was taught    
he is the weightless son    
from eternal death.    
     
But then   
out from under    
brick and mortar dogma,    
that says    
what they claim    
are Christ’s words.    
     
Hear him—    
not only on the wing,    
but everywhere air is lifted,    
     
for wind of storm is breath,    
and rushing water from a stream.    
     
Is this the way—    
where he is distant,    
all in the...

( After Stevie Smith )

The sun-warmed porch,
  its faded wood absorbing heat  
under this arthritic skeleton—  
once a conqueror of meadows  
 and dawn hunting parties.    
 
I listen to my mistress  
praise cardinals in winter  
  with a neighbor, again;  
  O! how pretty in snow!  
   You know—  
it’s a deceased loved one,  
    visiting us now!  
 
I curl up, unseen,  
  forgotten in age, think. . .  
Ah! to be admired again—  
  a conquistador of duck  
  fox, and...