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Your Grandmother's Verse

From the May 2016 Print Edition

She writes it with a quill pen, so they say,On cream-smooth vellum (paper she refuses).A photo of three granddaughters at playSits on her desk to supplement the Muses.Her subjects? Cats, and apple pies, and toys;Quilted covers, macramé, and knitting;A nest of robin’s eggs, the happy noiseOf . . . . Continue Reading »

All Gone

From the March 2012 Print Edition

quam magnus numerus Libyssae harenae lasarpiciferis iacet Cyrenis ”Catullus, 7 Silph-bearing Cyrenaica, said a poet, Alluding to a plant now long extinct. The coastal plain of Libya could grow it And nowhere else. The herb had a distinct Fragrance of rosy fennel, with a whiff Of spiciness, as . . . . Continue Reading »

Charity’s Gift

From the May 2008 Print Edition

Pinioned here, I look downwards to see My mother weeping in unfettered grief Her heart transfixed by swords, beholding Me Hang from this branch like autumn’s final leaf. Disciple John-how much more than the rest My soul smiles on him in completest love! Mother and friend, by misery oppressed, . . . . Continue Reading »