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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE VIREO, by KAREN SWENSON Poet's Biography
First Line: An adam and eve in the autumn of their fall
Last Line: Flutters a blessing about our nettled knees.
Subject(s): Gardens & Gardening; Love
First Line: An adam and eve in the autumn of their fall
Last Line: Flutters a blessing about our nettled knees.
Subject(s): Gardens & Gardening; Love
An Adam and Eve in the autumn of their fall
bring order with bramble-scarred hands
to the mildewed roses,
pluck nettles from each other's clothes.
Cropping the carnage of summer's abundance -
black leaves of basil,
tomatoes green or rotting
in rank mats of jointed grass
like marriages that never ripened,
or children who grew wild and weedy -
we plot out a future of spring blooms,
blue pools of grape hyacinths,
daffodils trumpeting beneath the dogwood.
A vireo, come into the garden from his journey,
as though we are innocent of any fall but this,
flutters a blessing about our nettled knees.
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THE INVENTION OF LOVE by MATTHEA HARVEY
TWO VIEWS OF BUSON by ROBERT HASS
A LOVE FOR FOUR VOICES: HOMAGE TO FRANZ JOSEPH HAYDN by ANTHONY HECHT
AN OFFERING FOR PATRICIA by ANTHONY HECHT
LATE AFTERNOON: THE ONSLAUGHT OF LOVE by ANTHONY HECHT
A SWEETENING ALL AROUND ME AS IT FALLS by JANE HIRSHFIELD