POEM
Kumin, Maxine
P O E M Maxine Kumun Poem for an Election Year: The Politics of Bindweed I have lived all season among the bindweed. I have spied upon (heir silent Anschluss, the bugles of their flowers, the...
...I have pursued every innocent threadlike structure to its source, then plucked it...
...Maxine Kumin is Chancellor of the Academy of American Poels...
...My chosen task is to reestablish the republic of grasses...
...forlatest collection of poems, "Connecting the Dots," wits recently published by W.W...
...send scouts to infiltrate the next hayfield, exploit the ties of family and class until they rule from hedgerow to hedgerow wherefore all season on my hands and knees I have ripped out roots, stems, ringlets and blossoms...
...My own ankles have been tugged at and held fast by these fanatics...
...These barbarian cousins of morning glory mean to smother the clover, drive out the livestock...
...Nnitnn...
...I have spied upon (heir silent Anschluss, the bugles of their flowers, the dark guy wires they put down into earth from which to fling slim vines that burgeon into airy traps...
...I have taken note of their seemingly random entanglement by tendril of the whole drowsy meadow...
...At eye level 1 have seen them strangle aster, milkweed, buttercup...
Vol. 60 • November 1996 • No. 11
