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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
CIRCLE ONE: YOU HAVE, YOU DON'T HAVE, MY FULL ATTENTION, by NANCE VAN WINCKEL First Line: Puttying the holes in the pieta | |||
I. Holy Puttying the holes in the Pieta in a poem that's of no account, and the man I love out of sorts. He's after clean socks, scolding, Off, aren't you, in your own little world? The light purple inside the gown's folds so there's no use denying it. Her white spine -- a steep, spotless corridor. Up and down it, the one wielding the putty knife used to mop, eons ago, on her knees for the shine. II. The Little-Owned World Going in is lighting a cigarette then just standing in line with your eyes closed. The gargoyles, zygotic zombie twins keep the guard. She waits. Waits her turn. And a voice calling from far off, No, the blue socks. The echo of a name to catch her up on the back side: saying Sweetie, the blue. Saying Christ. Saying Gone. III. An Egg or Two Shy of an Omelet Red velvet rope strung between the two gargoyles. Stepping over it. Letting go the last of the smoke. Hesitating on the top step for just a sec to say No, I don't know where the chickens' new nests are. We give them a perfectly good barn, and they just go on freelancing, nevermind the horned owls and the wolf-dogs. IV. My Fullest Intention Back in. Meaning to patch a gown. Stare into the Highness's marble eyes. Lugging a bucket of white goop, and the grief. Sloth inside. An ugly beauty. Bite down and hold on. But having to shout first out the window, Hey you have to stick your hand in there deeper, farther under, and just feel your way around; what else can I tell you, the eggs are brown, you'll find them, keep looking. The white halls, the lush foyer, and the gold bangles rattle, going round and round. Still, one must answer when the voice says, Fuck, alright, give us a kiss then from that world. The wet mop drops. The bitter through the bitten-down. And Ooo, the lips say, ooo. . . sweet. Copyright © Nance Van Winckel. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...SPRING AND FALL: TO A YOUNG CHILD by GERARD MANLEY HOPKINS SONNETS TO LAURA IN LIFE: 109 by PETRARCH A DEDICATION by ALFRED TENNYSON TO AMERICA, ON HER FIRST SONS FALLEN IN THE GREAT WAR by E. M. WALKER QUATRAIN: HERRICK by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH |
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