It is one of the paradoxes
of American literature that our writers are forever looking back
with love and nostalgia
at lives they couldn't wait
to leave.
~ Anatole Broyard
THE ALMANAC OF LAST THINGS
From the almanac of last things
I choose the spider lily
for the grace of its brief
blossom, though I myself
fear brevity,
but I choose The Song of Songs
because the flesh
of those pomegranates
has survived
all the frost of dogma.
I choose January with its chill
lessons of patience and despair--and
August, too sun-struck for lessons.
I choose a thimbleful of red wine
to make my heart race,
then another to help me
sleep. From the almanac
of last things I choose you,
as I have done before.
And I choose evening
because the light clinging
to the window
is at its most reflective
just as it is ready
to go out.
by Linda Pastan, from Carnival Evening:
New and Selected Poems 1968-1998 (W.W. Norton).
Linda Pastan's tenth book of poems, Carnival Evening: New and Selected Poems: 1968-1998 was a finalist for The National Book Award. From 1991 to 1995 she served as Poet Laureate of Maryland. Her new book, The Last Uncle, has recently been published by Norton. She is the winner of the 2003 Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize.
Love/Life Poems
