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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


O'KEEFFEAN by JANE MILLER

First Line: THROUGH THE WINDOW THE PINON
Last Line: YOUR FACE.
Subject(s): LOVE - BEGINNINGS;

Through the window the pinon
with its precious nut

each which must be picked and peeled
by hand darkens in bloom,

and the old dogs called in
sleep, and the soft adobe cools

by lamp to crimson
and, too, darkens.

I am in love and no one I know
for a good thousand miles.

What the hell,
freedom to scale,

nor anyone to call to.
For months I have lived for the day

I could reconcile my anger
with my wish simply to start over

as your lover. And now with my heart
content as the ancient ocean,

both figured into desert
and alone, I release you as heat

transforms the apricot and peach
trees painted on the desert

of the year I hurt,
each beetle, centipede,

black widow, what I am
supposed to look out for,

like the rattler,
who contains my death

more than any other
I also love and more since

to love is to love the most
feared on this red earth,

with its heaven dark
blue like I imagine the mind

because the body doesn't have to
question day all night

nor the invisible
moon on whom I practice

your face.



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