unask

 

 

the smile

 

Ever living Aphrodite, throned in beauty,
clever child of Zeus, O please,
please do not send sorrow
love queen, to my heart.

You came through time, you came
from far, from the high house
of your father, the golden building
hearing me, you came.

And when you did, your golden smile
said, well, Sappho, what's wrong now?
Who has stood you up, who has
turned her charming face away?

My heart's madness was in my face;
I bowed, I blushed, I could not look at her.

She who has fled, she said, will chase you;
she who threw away your gifts
will heap her own upon you;
who did not love, will love,
will suffer for you as you have suffered.

Now, Sappho, is that what you want?
Is it, poetess?
She said, and smiled.

 

Tom Davis, after Sappho.

 

 

 

 

 

golden

 

Had I the heavens’ embroidered cloths,
Enwrought with golden and silver light,
The blue and the dim and the dark cloths
Of night and light and the half light,
I would spread the cloths under your feet:
But I, being poor, have only my dreams;
I have spread my dreams under your feet;
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.

from W.B. Yeats, He wishes for the cloths of Heaven

 

 

 

 

 

reflected

 

Love

there is enough magic here
inside this one word
to change our world forever

mountain snow lying
across life’s pasture a
shadow reflected over
stone moss forest stream
man’s ability to under
stand nature’s living need

green comet seen in the sky
time’s gift, another
universe visiting our earth

bridge between heavens’s
storm and fern field
pathway to a pollen canyon
mixed outside God’s vision,
our destiny painted in key ink
and the touch of a woman

there is enough magic here
inside this one word
to change our world forever

Love

from Joseph Mayo Wristen, Magic to change the world

 

 

 

 

 

scamel

there is a new entry in our scamel blog.

 

 

 

 

All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace

 

I like to think (and
the sooner the better!)
of a cybernetic meadow
where mammals and computers
live together in mutually
programming harmony
like pure water
touching clear sky.

I like to think
(right now, please!)
of a cybernetic forest
filled with pines and electronics
where deer stroll peacefully
past computers
as if they were flowers
with spinning blossoms.

I like to think
(it has to be!)
of a cybernetic ecology
where we are free of our labors
and joined back to nature,
returned to our mammal
brothers and sisters,
and all watched over
by machines of loving grace.

Richard Brautigan

 

 

 

 

 

dad

 

Though my mother was already two years dead
Dad kept her slippers warming by the gas,
put hot water bottles her side of the bed
and still went to renew her transport pass.

You couldn't just drop in. You had to phone.
He'd put you off an hour to give him time
to clear away her things and look alone
as though his still raw love were such a crime.

He couldn't risk my blight of disbelief
though sure that very soon he'd hear her key
scrape in the rusted lock and end his grief.
He knew she'd just popped out to get the tea.

I believe life ends with death, and that is all.
You haven't both gone shopping; just the same,
in my new black leather phone book there's your name
and the disconnected number I still call.

Tony Harrison, Long Distance II.

 

 

 

 

 

the only actor

 

I am the only actor.
It is difficult for one woman
to act out a whole play.
The play is my life,
my solo act.
My running after the hands
and never catching up.
(The hands are out of sight -
that is, offstage.)
All I am doing onstage is running,
running to keep up,
but never making it.

Despite that I go on to the last lines:
To be without God is to be a snake
who wants to swallow an elephant.
The curtain falls.
The audience rushes out.
It was a bad performance.
That’s because I’m the only actor
and there are few humans whose lives
will make an interesting play.
Don’t you agree?

From Anne Sexton, The Play.