"Poem in the Manner of the 1990s"
Listen to David Lehman reading this poem. The angels won't let you touch them. They're afraid you'll discover the truth of their genitalia as not even Milton had surmised. Their nether lips make them women yet their wings flap like birds of prey in the image of gods that lift girls and deflower them with the passion of a romantic poet discovering a waterfall in a forest. So I discover you, so the black wings of angels and ghosts of boys beat in the darkness, and the noise is the noise of two lovers where two opposite and equal forces meet before going their opposite ways.
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David Lehman is the editor of The Oxford Book of American Poetry. He won the 2010 Deems Taylor Award from ASCAP for his book A Fine Romance: Jewish Songwriters, American Songs. He teaches in the graduate writing program at the New School in New York City.
Clickhere to visit Robert Pinsky's Favorite Poem Project site.To submit poetry to Slate, send up to five poems and a self-addressed, stamped envelope to: Robert Pinsky, Slate Magazine, Boston University, 236 Bay State Road, Boston, MA, 02215.