Verse
Leavitt, Penelope & Teti, Zona
Penelope L e a v i t t Ashes, ashes. You, a newborn girl, a tiny kingdom, Slumbering, snoring gently. Home fi'om the hospital, away from The gowned line of proud mothers And other cheering...
...1 take the pin box...
...Zona Teti Grass and Light This year the field has been let to go and the wild grasses and honeysuckle are there...
...all The unbound minds deep and clear as tidepools...
...My body on grass is a stream of light, luminous as a river...
...My mother calls for me to come...
...Like our hearts, those roses, All the fallen petals of our generations Scattered before the wind...
...My heart rests like a petal on the apple tree, sliced from a storm and blooming...
...We kept close company, you and I, So freshly separated, so newly on our own...
...In a little while I shall go...
...Around us, the wild roses Bloomed incoherently, and I reflected On the future inmates floating In the nutshell of your womb...
...I rocked you carefully on my lap, Our faces upturned to the misty sky...
...Daughters and sons, our generations to come, Quiescent in your lap...
...Your future Footprints stolen from my side...
...in your lap lay the heads of roses Someone had gathered...
...Silent and secretive I manage my rest among the new heights for cover...
...and then your heart Surging, bursting into one last angry flower, Your heart clutching, being hopelessly clutched...
...Commonweal: 220...
...Home fi'om the hospital, away from The gowned line of proud mothers And other cheering spectators, We lay somnambulant in the gentle glow Of afternoon...
...I awake to the stillness of twilight And the hush of your breath...
...Catapulted Between your life and death, I heard The spiraling of my scream, the unspooling siren, The puffs of air from mouth to tiny mouth, The rumble of a stretcher through a Yawning door: All these slamming open On your small body...
...I consider the man she hoped would do, but what will come I could not know...
...Yet more beautiful than light is the dark well of my navel...
...My face shining on the back of the lid is one that shone on my childhood...
...l heard the endless, ending noises of life That awoke you for a brief, cruel moment, Then released you, relaxed you, Stilled you, undid you...
...Beringed my finger could be hers...
...Cocooned in sunlight, we shifted From waking, to dozing, to deep sleep...
...The wind on my cheek is an old shiver...
...They were like hearts, those roses...
...Gently they set you down, and ! listened To the roses whisper and settle about you...
...Though old it opens upon its cold treasure, a watch, the diamond and wedding rings taken from the hand of my mother...
...Just the heads...
...Branded forever with my dearest love, I go through life towards my mother...
Vol. 113 • April 1986 • No. 7
