Genevieve Taggard Poems

A middle class fortress in which to hide!
Draw down the curtain as if saying No,
While noon's ablaze, ablaze outside.
...

Now I am slow and placid, fond of sun,
Like a sleek beast, or a worn one,
No slim and languid girl – not glad
With the windy trip I once had,
...

Wishes are birds. You have been circled round
With them, invisible, I sent you in distress,
Flown from my heart that long had held them bound,
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Now in the fright of change when bombed towns vanish
In fountains of debris
We say to the stranger coming across the sea
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I will defy you down until my death
With cold body, indrawn breath;
Terrible and cruel I will move with you
Like a surly tiger. If you knew
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This is our time.
We women and men
Here once and only once
Celebrate our time
...

In that day
Everyone will sing,
Everyone will play in that day;
There will be carolling.
...

Withhold your breath!
Heavy in noon, and sleepy as slow death,
Garden of sweets and sours,
The cluster of my body hangs
...

I understand what you were running for,
Slim naked boy, and why from far inland
You came between dark hills. I know the roar
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Put her away some place between two hills,
Away from the sea and the sun.
She has so much to think of–must she run
...