"Against the Grain"
—for Joy Young
Listen to David Gewanter read this poem. is lugging words one stop past their station, is green and unripe; the unready reader and throws her book down. Hardy's drunken Mayor spends his day selling corn, which in England I prayed to, trahit quemque sua voluptas, A doom-magnet. Then you found the Eclogues staggering through black woods, a wounded stag, even the house is semi-detached—let some Freud Jung?****(may I suggest no pants)— ******************What bound is set for love?
"My love is a read rose" you once told me.
Is love a tractor beam, a furrowed brow,
or simple as your name.
*********************Our little engine
warm couplings stretch the sense. Can we talk straight?
An airplane's black box is orange;
*****************************the orange
thinks "naked to the waist" means no pants; she reads
"The sailors, stripped to the waist,
*****************************swabbed the poopdeck"
of Casterbridge plays cards, bets his own wife
and loses her—
*************he's no Groucho, he repents,
meant any grain, just as deor meant any beast
preying upon the heathlands,
***********************like the Latin
Virgil coolly fingering the heart,
"whatever it is you love
********************drags you onward."
translation: wolf hunts goat, goat hunts clover;
each was led by his liking—
***********************not lovesick Dido
but slow bullocks hauling yoke and plow homeward. ...
Our evenings, spent at puzzles
*************************and cross words;
crackpot dictionary root us out. May I
call you, lying upon
*****************a German couch,
Virgil stares at his pages, tears them up.
Quis enim modus. ...
David Gewanter's is author of two books of poetry,In the BellyandThe Sleep of Reason. He teaches at Georgetown University.
For Slate's poetry submission guidelines, click spacerhereyeshyperlinkPoetry SubmissionsSlate reads new poems from Oct. 1 to April 30. Manuscripts sent between May 1 and Sept. 30 will not be considered.To submit poems: Send, as a single attached document, up to three poems of no more than 50 lines each to editors@slatepoems.com. Use the poet's name for the subject line of the e-mail and for the title of the attachment. We prefer Word documents (.doc or .docx) to PDFs.Please include a brief, professional cover letter, including publication history, in the body of your email. Please limit submissions to one per poet per annual reading period. Simultaneous submissions are OK. Slate no longer accepts poetry submissions by mail. The email address editors@slatepoems.com is for poetry submissions only (or to notify editors of acceptance elsewhere of a poem under consideration at Slate). Other inquiries, etc., will not be addressed.10000false220061444537PMWednesdayJanJanuary161/4/2006 9:45:37 PM63271989937000000020061444537PMWednesdayJanJanuary161/4/2006 9:45:37 PM632719899370000000.Clickhere to visit Robert Pinsky's Favorite Poem Project site.Click here for an archive of "Poet's Choice" columns from the Washington Post.