Imogene Wagner Poems

You woo me like a dominating lover
Slowly touching fire to every part,
Bending me to reverence, you uncover
All the secret places of my heart.
...

Around my wrist I wear a watch
Upon my body clothes,
I always wear a hat to church
And sport no shiny nose;
...

I am the curious one, who finding flowers,
Take them all apart to find their depth,
And holding their broke petals in my hands
See I have destroyed their deepest powers.
...

I don't mind dentists
when they hurt your feelings,
by boring or extracting your best grinder,
But it gets my goat when
...

I'm a sittin' by my window
A listenin' for the “tello”
A wishin' hard on all the stars
My heart a tight strung cello.
...

She rested on the hill above the graves
And smiled in the moment's consecration,
To find that death proclaimed its time in shades
Variant as the grass blades recreation;
...

“Look Sis, you're only five and kinda dumb
But I have got to tell you anyway,
I heard 'em talkin'! - now, don't you tell Mum,
They said that Dad ain't ours no more to stay.
...

Upon the silver screen the news was shown;
A train derailed and fifty dead,
The closed-faced Commies saying No again,
And Europe's hungry children clutching bread.
...

The phone rang at midnight, fearful I rain
Into the table and jarred the divan,
Trembling hands lifted the piece to my ear
“Daddy? ” Oh, Daddy! Yes, Yes, I hear,
...

The thought came to me like a vagrant bird
To land here in the branches of my mind
To sing its song of lifting melody
And sire a spirit child of ecstasy.
...