Poem-a-(earth)day, April 22: footholds, foothills, swollen feet

Eagle Rock

This is the place where darkness gathers like a swarm,
as thick as hide, as soft.
This is where the dead lean like tallgrass,
eyelashes bleached and fluttering,
where the breast-high grass leans into the night.
This is where the skin of Buffalo Berries in the evening,
eveningyellow,
is not so sweet.

It is a place of burnt leaves, of quarrymint, of watercress.
It is a place of narrow footholds, and foothills, of swollen feet,
a place of cattails, gutted white and open.
It is a place of rattlesnake sheddings, like crisp honeycomb,
of ankledeep streams, and cold tongues.
A place where muscle-red pipestone teeth thrust from the earth,
gleam from centuries of Bison fur-rubbings,
and rain.

I am born here, was born here, will always be born here,
and here my hazel opals will ever shut,
and screaming like a wind, my bodyslick will slide, again
into the world.

And here, the moss will suck my cheekbones dry,
and they will flake and fall like lichen,
and I will die here, too.

This is where all my candles have been gathered, lit,
and in the dark are rocking, rock with me
in their arabesque of light.
This is the place where all I have stolen or hidden, I have gathered here.
This is where all of me is gathered.

***

Hi Friends,

“Eagle Rock” was written by Bly Pope and first published anonymously in the spring 2002 issue of my beloved Masque magazine. You can read more from Bly (and check out paintings from both Bly and his twin Rowan) at popebrothersart.com.

April is National Poetry Month, and I am celebrating by emailing out my own eclectic selection of one poem per day for the duration of the month. You can always learn more about National Poetry Month or sign up for a more official-like poem-a-day list at www.poets.org, the website of the Academy of American Poets.

Enjoy.
Ellen

Poems in honor of Earth Day were also featured for Poem-a-Day April 21, 2007; Poem-a-Day April 22, 2009; Poem-a-Day April 22, 2010; and Poem-a-Day April 22, 2011.

Poem-a-Day, April 21: Remember Sarah Stout

Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout

Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout
Would not take the garbage out.
She’d wash the dishes and scrub the pans
Cook the yams and spice the hams,
And though her parents would scream and shout,
She simply would not take the garbage out.
And so it piled up to the ceiling:
Coffee grounds, potato peelings,
Brown bananas and rotten peas,
Chunks of sour cottage cheese.
It filled the can, it covered the floor,
It cracked the windows and blocked the door,
With bacon rinds and chicken bones,
Drippy ends of ice cream cones,
Prune pits, peach pits, orange peels,
Gloppy glumps of cold oatmeal,
Pizza crusts and withered greens,
Soggy beans, and tangerines,
Crusts of black-burned buttered toast,
Grisly bits of beefy roast.
The garbage rolled on down the halls,
It raised the roof, it broke the walls,
I mean, greasy napkins, cookie crumbs,
Blobs of gooey bubble gum,
Cellophane from old bologna,
Rubbery, blubbery macaroni,
Peanut butter, caked and dry,
Curdled milk, and crusts of pie,
Rotting melons, dried-up mustard,
Eggshells mixed with lemon custard,
Cold French fries and rancid meat,
Yellow lumps of Cream of Wheat.
At last the garbage reached so high
That finally it touched the sky,
And none of her friends would come to play,
And all of her neighbors moved away;
And finally, Sarah Cynthia Stout
Said, “Okay, I’ll take the garbage out!”
But then, of course it was too late,
The garbage reached across the state,
From New York to the Golden Gate;
And there in the garbage she did hate
Poor Sarah met an awful fate
That I cannot right now relate
Because the hour is much too late
But children, remember Sarah Stout,
And always take the garbage out.

*

Hello Friends —

Today’s poem is from Where the Sidewalk Ends (1974) by Shel Silverstein(1932-1999, also author of The Giving Tree). Kinda makes you want to start composting, doesn’t it?

Today is Earth Day and the perfect excuse to ditch your incandescent bulbs once and for all, bring your own bags to the grocery store, start that compost, or finally get around to whatever it is that you in particular have been putting off. If doing it “for the earth” is a little too abstract to truly motivate you, try doing it for Shel.

April is National Poetry Month, and I am celebrating by emailing out my own eclectic selection of one poem per day for the duration of the month. If you wish to be unsubscribed from this Poem-a-Day email list at any time, please reply to this email with a friendly unsubscribe request (preferably in heroic couplet form). You may also request to add a consenting friend to the list, or even nominate a poem.

To learn more about National Poetry Month, or to subscribe to a more official-like Poem-a-Day list, visit www.poets.org.

Enjoy.
Ellen

Poems by Shel Silverstein were also featured for Poem-a-Day April 30, 2009 and Poem-a-Day April 18, 2011.
Poems in honor of Earth Day were also featured for Poem-a-Day April 22, 2008; Poem-a-Day April 22, 2009; Poem-a-Day April 22, 2010; and Poem-a-Day April 22, 2011.