Diane di Prima Poems

for Jackson Allen
My friend wears my scarf at his waist
I give him moonstones
He gives me shell & seaweeds
...

I am a shadow crossing ice
I am rusting knife in the water
I am pear tree bitten by frost
I uphold the mountain with my hand
...

Sweetheart
when you break thru
you'll find
...

she is the wind you never leave behind
black cat you killed in empty lot, she is
smell of the summer weeds, the one who lurks
...

Going there for the first time
it was so much smaller then
that crowded downstairs full of poetry
racks of tattered little mags against the wall
...

I saw you in green velvet, wide full sleeves
seated in front of a fireplace, our house
made somehow more gracious, and you said
"There are stars in your hair"— it was truth I
...

that she is eternal, that she sings
that she is star-born, that she gathers crystal
that she can be confused with Isis
...

for there is another Lilith, not made for earth
of whom it is said / that when she is seen by men
it is as vapour / a plague / a cacophony
...

Shall we say that the streets were littered
w/ half-eaten food
dry leaves, debris of plastic & paper
...

for Alan
This, then, is the gift the world has given me
(you have given me)
softly the snow
...