Mary Angela Douglas Poems

(with a stray phrase at the end, owed to edna st. vincent millay)

white frosted (coconut) cake
with a single cherry, or only half a cherry
...

it's the Fairy Queen out of sight in pale pink satin
you want to catch a glimpse of through the trees.
and the harp glissandoes, and you almost
...

this book is not a former library book. it has mild
smudging where a child lay down her candy bar
on a hot summer day; a few nail polish
...

a gold leaf sun in the corner of the picture
lets you know it is a sunny day
in the tempera landscapes painted with
...

to the true God, to the true Christ and to those with the courage now-
to know the difference

the wind has caught the tattered rainbow sail
...

stuffed with rubies, perhaps
kaleidoscopes made of rose window shreds
a plaster saint made of snow
...

this high circus life has
its irrefutable laws

but clowns are sustained by
...

for the moment, a Sanskrit illumination-

and clouds slip over a polished moon
they are throwing voices on the
...

on Nikolai Gumilev, a brief cadenza-

Rose pink flamingo flurries over Africa
he might have seen, if he had lived
...

it's cherry sprigged from floor to rafter
that much is certain;
with ivory curtains
that never need washing.
...