Carolyn Kizer Poems

Arms and the girl I sing - O rare
arms that are braceleted and white and bare

arms that were lovely Helen's, in whose name
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1

The stout poet tiptoes
On the lawn. Surprisingly limber
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My mother-- preferring the strange to the tame:
Dove-note, bone marrow, deer dung,
Frog's belly distended with finny young,
Leaf-mould wilderness, hare-bell, toadstool,
...

For more than thirty years we hadn't met.
I remembered the bright query of your face,
That single-minded look,intense and stern,
Yet most important -how could I forget?-
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The whole green sky is dying.The last tree flares
With a great burst of supernatural rose
Under a canopy of poisonous airs.
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for Maxine Kumin

Where did these enormous children come from,
More ladylike than we have ever been?
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Midas watched the golden crust
That formed over his steaming sores,
Hugged his agues, loved his lust,
But damned to hell the out-of-doors
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For Ann London

As you described your mastectomy in calm detail
and bared your chest so I might see
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No-one explains me because
There is nothing to explain.
It's all right here
Very clear.
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When from his cave, young Mao in his youthful mind
A work to renew old China first designed,
Then he alone interpreted the law,
and from tradtional fountains scorned to draw:
...