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Poems

Rain Out at Sea

 

Poems by Jeanne Minahan

Music by Ya-Jhu Yang

 

A Tale

 

Once upon a time there was a man

and a woman

but it’s all downhill after that.

You put a potato in a sauce too salty—

What goes in a tale too sad,

too full of tears?

 

 

Request

 

Not just a beach, she said,

but a sandy beach.

 

I don’t mind if the water’s cold or hot,

only,

it should be salt, salt water.

It should be the sea,

the real sea.

 

Please.

 

 

After Aristotle

 

You could begin or end

in the middle

but no one middles at the start

or close of things.

Not the day—that would be too hot,

not a meal—improper banquet,

not a love—there are rules

that forbid such sorrow.

 

 

He Writes of His First Love

 

I am thinking of her.

My canoe slides downstream.

The current untangles itself

as the boat pushes through it.

I am thinking of her.

The river is nothing like her black hair,

though it braids itself in my wake,

though its blackness drowns my lingering fingers,

though I dive when I should be in my bed,

            sleeping.

 

 

That Summer

 

It was the season of linen.

Some times I took your hand,

or you, I think,

took mine.

 

We sauntered in the gardens,

we sunk our heels in sand.

It was the linen of summer

I gathered in my hands.

 

In winter there was a leaving,

I took my time, I took my time.

I don’t remember grieving,

though I remember your hands.

 

 

What It Would Be: Three Guesses

 

To See You Again

 

            rain in the desert

            blossom in concrete

            song from the swan

            silence from the crow

            flame flame flame

            with no wood

            to burn slow.

 

To Kiss You Again

 

            rain out at sea

            blossom in the meadow

            songbird in the morning

            silence in the snow

            flame flame flame

            my boxed heart

            burns low.

 

To See You Never

 

            rain

            blossom

            song

            no

            song

            flame

            flame

            flame.

 

 

 

 

 
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