Poem: "I Do, I Do"


I Do, I Do


In me (the worm) clearly
is no righteousness, but this—

persistence


            H.D., “The Walls Do Not Fall”


I’m eating my way through the books
of dead women poets—

Aemilia Lanyer’s garden
where Eve is blameless

the robin-eye
in Elizabeth Bishop

Phillis Wheatley’s bird-
of-paradise

the swart swan
song by Marianne Moore

Anna Wickham’s strangled cry
the tunes of Li Qingzhao

Annie Finch, not the American anthologist,
the Countess of Winchilsea

the living
are eaten too

Elisabeth Bletsoe’s Sherborne Woodcock,
Pied Wagtail, Starling

Molly Peacock
Rita Dove

And one born in Ghana
whose name is

a birdcall
Ata Ama Aidoo

Comments

Ms. said…
What a treasure. is this Annie Finch my *Annie Finch too and who is the Countess? Where in the world might a purchase this book dear Jee, we are so many, dead and living word wielders in this sea of time, I want to gather together with all the eves of no blame, and thank the Adams who notice us in song and rhyme.

*http://mscomfortzone.blogspot.com/2011/10/silent-muse-saturday-meet-good-witch.html
10:02 AM
Jee Leong said…
That is a vision of paradise you've got there, my dear.
9:08 AM
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