Timothy Steele Poems

Although the roof is just a story high,
It dizzies me a little to look down.
I lariat-twirl the rope of Christmas lights
And cast it to the weeping birch's crown;
...

The basketball you walk around the court
Produces a hard, stinging, clean report.
You pause and crouch and, after feinting, swoop
Around a ghost defender to the hoop
...

You sit, suspending your critique
Of Venuses and nymphs at play,
While a few scattered strollers creak
Slowly across the floor's parquet.
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By rights one should experience holy dread
At the young woman gowned in black chiffon
Who, at a mirror, slightly turns her head,
Large eyes intent, and puts an earring on.
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We enter life and thus inherit
The Kingdom of the human voice.
The Word is Word because we share it.
Wonder encourages our choice
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Unsteadily, I stand against the wash
Flooding in, climbing thigh, waist, rib-cage. Turning,
It sweeps me, breaststroking, out on its swift
Sudsy withdrawal. Greenly, a wave looms;
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In the reading room
A boy takes notes
From a World Book volume.
His school report's
...