Mary Ruefle Poems

Hit Title Date Added
1.
The Daze

It was one of those mornings the earth seemed
not to have had any rest at all, her face dour
and unrefreshed, no particular place-- subway,
park-- expressed sufficient interest in present circumstances
...

2.
Sentimental Education

Ann Galbraith
loves Barry Soyers.

Please pray for Lucius Fenn
...

3.
The Letter

Beloved, men in thick green coats came crunching
through the snow, the insignia on their shoulders
of uncertain origin, a country I could not be sure of,
a salute so terrifying I heard myself lying to avoid
...

4.
The Hand

The teacher asks a question.
You know the answer, you suspect
you are the only one in the classroom
...

5.
Mimosa

Pink dandruff of some tree
afloat on the swimming pool.
What's that bird?
...

6.
Keeping It Simple

I take the bird on the woodpile,
separate it from its function, feather
by feather. I blow up its scale.
...

7.
The Wife of Mission Rock

Nothing curves at sea,
and the men there die abruptly,
in imitation of the fact, except
...

8.
Bavaria

The mountain skies were clear
except for the umlaut of a cloud
over the village.
...

9.
The Bench

My husband and I were arguing about a bench we wanted to buy and put in part of our backyard, a part which is actually a meadow of sorts, a half acre with tall grasses and weeds and the occasional wild flower because we do not mow it but leave it scrubby and unkempt.
...

10.
Blood Soup

The last time I saw father alive he was using
a black umbrella, closed, to beat off some pigeons
hanging outside the marble portals of a museum.
We were visitors, walking very slowly, so father
...

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