Image (Copyright © 2009 Peter Schwartz)
Annie Finch
In Issue 3 on May 1, 2009 at 11:55 amGoddess
The gravity of goddess moves above
my eyes, when I look up like someone’s child.
There is no spoken sentence. All she moves
Will leave. And I will always know she smiled
(she stays, so we both stay both quiet and wild).
She looks down until her death is unashamed
Undimming holding like receding caves,
Waving inside our time with grains and waves
of growing, and in calls of ancient names.
She does not take me out from presences—
She stays to go—her presence is the loss.
And now I know each knowing’s made of senses,
Looking up or looking down. Or this. Or moss.
Annie Finch is the author of several books of poetry, including The Encyclopedia of Scotland, Eve, Calendars, and Among the Goddesses: An Epic Poem Libretto. She has also written or edited books about poetry, most recently The Body of Poetry. She lives in Maine where she directs the Stonecoast low-residency MFA Program in Creative Writing. Her website is at www.anniefinch.com.
James Lineberger
In Issue 3 on May 1, 2009 at 11:50 ameverything i start out to say
everything i start out to say
has come to be
self-serving even
these so-called
prayers
these earnest claims to innocence
this goddamn
snivelling beneath my bridehood’s
veil
but oh god my god
my only
please just try to believe
me and accept me
the way i keep on telling
everyone
i believe in you
