Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, POSSESSION, by JANE MILLER


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

POSSESSION, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Again the shepherd in solitude crosses the deformed desert
Last Line: Painted voices --
Subject(s): Deserts; Food & Eating; Pollution; Water Supply; Dams; Reservoirs; Water Mains


Again the shepherd in solitude crosses the deformed desert
his spiny head & floating ribs
swaddled in robes
what if the King is dead
what if the Queen is sexually reticent
& someone has said to their child
-- shut up, you look stupid talking
by now we are many hours into the night
deleriously happy between the two points of a journey
-- I
say it
-- love you
so is it now we feed the mythical bird earthly beauty
a thing one never gets to do
twice like a first kiss
eternally green those red hills
I climb
how poor I am
how thirsty & small
the pipeline through the desert a rip in my face
delta-winged plowshares begin a reclamation then the worst --
God is fanged shitless
while each waits a turn to drink
since we deal with life
the potion I-forget-you I-kill-you etc.
don't laugh at my timidity
from scum there's caustic soda there's chlorine
there's copper
there's a little girl peeing
everyone believes she's the beloved
a face with a large forehead
cracked nose & stretch of sand
thousands of wells two miles deep & pipeline centuries long
uranium lead salt dredged like a forced smile
then the worst --
saying to a child shut your mouth, you look dumb --
until now I had not lost the bright colors
& immodest homes of my youth
I care not for images I miss you
all the world's
eternally green & I ask
what if I die without your love my rattlesnake
my restlessness what if I'm buried
thinking of you holding your eyes
with mine then the worst --
you're beaten up
by now we are many hours into the night
pennants of gas fires brighten the skies
then the worst -- dark stupid voices raised
painted voices --





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