Mary Angela Douglas Poems

music, foundation of empires I dreamed then

in the rattling days suddenly a clear space rose,
...

maybe they want the beautiful to disappear
so that they may rule and reign, the trolls,
present under every bridge and you
...

WHY IS HISTORY ALMOST ALWAYS

why is history almost always
taught as the history of everything terrible
...

THERE WAS A LANGUAGE GREEN AS TREES

there was a language green as trees
in summer's ease, there was a language
...

forgive me if I remain ignorant

of the routes of silk, of spices
...

some days I just want to look at the land
at the bands of rain sweeping over it
in crystalline beading
...

I see the patchwork on His stars
how He is holding us all together
in the supposed flood zones
...

there is no wilderness

in which he will not write
...

(on the music of Arvo Part)


yesterday you wrote
...

waiting for the news to come of where to go or why or how

is easy for no one to bear especially those who have had
...