Djuna Barnes Poems

A LITTLE trellis stood beside my head,
And all the tiny fruitage of its vine
Fashioned a shadowy cover to my bed,
And I was madly drunk on shadow wine!
...

Corpse A

They brought her in, a shattered small
Cocoon,
With a little bruised body like
...

You, with your long blank udders
And your calms,
Your spotted linen and your
Slack'ning arms.
...

What altar cloth, what rag of worth
Unpriced?
What turn of card, what trick of game
Undiced?
...

So she stands—nude—stretching dully
Two amber combs loll through her hair
A vague molested carpet pitches
Down the dusty length of stair.
...

A thousand lights had smitten her
Into this thing;
Life had taken her and given her
One place to sing.
...

Whatloin-cloth, what rag of wrong
Unpriced?
What turn of body, what of lust
Undiced?
...

AND now she walks on out turned feet
Beside the litter in the street
Or rolls beneath a dirty sheet
Within the town.
...

SOMEDAY beneath some hard
Capricious star—
Spreading its light a little
Over far,
...

Lay her under the rusty grass,
With her two eyes heavy and blind and done;
Her two hands crossed beneath her breast
One on one.
...