7 Days on the Sea (May Swenson Poems)
Monday The world is a ball of water. See, it is round-sided. I move across its topside, upon the world, not in it. The boat ...
May Swenson Poems (24 Poems)
October (May Swenson Poems)
1A smudge for the horizonthat, on a clear day, showsthe hard edge of hills andbuildings on the other coast.Anchored boats ...
Women (May Swenson Poems)
Women Or they should be should be pedestals little horses moving those wooden pedestals sweet moving oldfashioned to the painted motions rocking of men horses the gladdest things in the toyroom The feelingly pegs and then of their unfeelingly ears To be so familiar joyfully and dear ridden to the trusting rockingly fists ridden ...
Fountains Of Aix (May Swenson Poems)
Beards of water some of them have. Others are blowing whistles of water. Faces astonished that constant water jumps from their mouths. Jaws of lions are snarling waterthrough green ...
Bleeding (May Swenson Poems)
Stop bleeding said the knifeI would if I could said the cut.Stop bleeding you make me messy with the blood.I'm sorry said the cut.Stop ...
Kiwi (May Swenson Poems)
Fruit without a stone, its shiny pulp is clear green. Inside, tiny black microdot seeds. Skin the color of khakiImagine a shaggy brown-green pelt that ...
Motherhood (May Swenson Poems)
She sat on a shelf,her breasts two bellieson her poked-out belly,on which the navel lookedlike a sucked-in mouth-her knees bent ...
Feel Me (May Swenson Poems)
"Feel me to do right," our father said on his deathbed.We did not quite know-in fact, not at all-what he ...
Cardinal Ideograms (May Swenson Poems)
A mouth. Can blow or breathe, be a funnel, or Hello. A grass blade or a cut. A question seated. And a proud bird's neck. Shallow mitten ...
That the Soul May Wax Plump (May Swenson Poems)
My dumpy little mother on the undertaker's slabhad a mannequin's grace. From chin to footthe sheet outlined her, thin and ...
The Shape of Death (May Swenson Poems)
What does love look like? We knowthe shape of death. Death is a cloudimmense and awesome. At first a lidis ...
The James Bond Movie (May Swenson Poems)
The popcorn is greasy, and I forgot to bring a Kleenex.A pill that's a bomb inside the stomach of a ...
Landing on the Moon (May Swenson Poems)
When in the mask of night there shone that cut,we were riddled. A probe reached downand stroked some nerve in ...
The Lowering (May Swenson Poems)
The flag is foldedlengthwise, and lengthwise again,folding toward the open edge,so that the union of stars on the bluefield remains ...
Staying At Ed’s Place (May Swenson Poems)
I like being in your apartment, and not disturbing anything.As in the woods I wouldn't want to move a tree,or ...
Water Picture (May Swenson Poems)
In the pond in the parkall things are doubled;Long buildings hang andwriggle gently. Chimneysare bent legs bouncingon clouds below. A flagwags like ...
Little Lion Face (May Swenson Poems)
Little lion faceI stopped to pickamong the mass of thicksucculent blooms, the twicestreaked flanges of your silksunwheel relaxed in widedilation, ...
Little Lion Face (May Swenson Poems)
Little lion faceI stopped to pickamong the mass of thicksucculent blooms, the twicestreaked flanges of your silksunwheel relaxed in widedilation, ...
Sleeping With Boa (May Swenson Poems)
I show her how to put her arms around me,but she's much too small.What's worse, she doesn't understand.Andalthough she lies ...
Analysis Of Baseball (May Swenson Poems)
It's aboutthe ball,the bat,and the mitt.Ball hitsbat, or ithits mitt.Bat doesn'thit ball, batmeets it.Ball bouncesoff bat, fliesair, or thudsground (dud)or ...
The Tall Figures of Giacometti (May Swenson Poems)
We move by means of our mud bumps.We bubble as do the dead but more slowly.The products of excruciating purgeswe ...
The Woods At Night (May Swenson Poems)
The binocular owl, fastened to a limb like a lantern all night long, sees where all the other birds sleep: ...
Blue (May Swenson Poems)
Blue, but you are Rose, too, and buttermilk, but with blood dots showing through. A little salty your white nape ...
Question (May Swenson Poems)
Body my house my horse my hound what will I do when you are fallen Where will I sleep How ...