Grave Poem of Spoon Island: Merideth Hurley
(1990)
Inspired by the book "Spoon River Anthology" by Edgar Lee Masters. These poems have been crafted by me under the title "Grave Poems of Spoon Island".
Tide tickling sun’s wake Under a thin skin of ice Beach disappearing
silent universe solitary traveller a perfect union
a cold moon filters down through the purple asters no explorers have returned with caterpillar robes and dandelion gold
the darkening hills a triumvirate of crows in the glowing gloom
I am a tree beside the water my ancient roots run deep and wide in Mother Earth as one body dies
Many times, my father, drunk upon… “Spare the rod and spoil the child… Swung his belt and lay the stripes… To cleanse my soul. And I, drunk upon memory and whis…
Suppose you was 18 years old And never had a single thing In all your life to call yours alo… Except your body and your face? And suppose you went to work
Life has a way of playing the vile… Or, providing an evener, some migh… I, who did not want to go to war, Seeing the senselessness of it, Stayed at home to work the farm -
Early morning mist Loon fishing quiet water Shining wake behind
Clouds on horizon Now and then a shorebird’s cry On buffeting wind
she watches him as if the fault were in her eyes poor shorn Sampson withered hands grip the canes that barely hold the frail reflect…
how pathetic to be born without wings such gifts should be for womankind, too
once the larvae have hatched how long can they survive without… each day I go forceps in hand to count the dead
I have no family to care for my gr… who doesn’t care where I lay… for fourty years after an argument… which of us was bigger? in the course of our lives we bot…
Autumn dusk descends Street lights run on rain-slicked… To glistening pools