Fountains Of Aix
Beards of water some of them have. Others are blowing whistles of water. Faces astonished that constant water jumps from their mouths. Jaws of lions are snarling water through green teeth over chins of moss. Dolphins toss jets of water from open snouts to an upper theater of water. Children are riding swans and water coils from the S-shaped necks and spills in flat foils from pincered bills. A solemn curly-headed bull puts out a swollen tongue of water. Cupids naked are making water into a font that never is full. A goddess is driving a chariot through water. Her reins and whips are tight white water. Bronze hoofs of horses wrangle with water. Marble faces half hidden in leaves. Faces whose hair is leaves and grapes of stone are peering from living leaves. Faces with mossy lips unlocked always uttering water, water wearing their features blank their ears deaf, their eyes mad or patient or blind or astonished at water always uttered out of their mouths.
May Swenson
Other author posts
The Tall Figures of Giacometti
We move by means of our mud bumps We bubble as do the dead but more slowly The products of excruciating purgeswe are squeezed out thin hard and dry If we exude a stench it is petrified sainthood
Water Picture
In the pond in the parkall things are doubled; Long buildings hang andwriggle gently Chimneysare bent legs bouncingon clouds below A flagwags like a fishhookdown there in the sky
Feel Me
“Feel me to do right,” our father said on his deathbed We did not quite know—in fact, not at all—what he meant His last whisper was spent as through a slot in a wall He left us a key, but how did it fit
Sleeping With Boa
I show her how to put her arms around me, but she’s much too small What’s worse, she doesn’t understand And although she lies beside me, sticking out her tongue, it’s herself she licks She likes my stroking hand
