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POETRY
Wolf Song
Under the fading day star
dawn lifts the edges of the
night.
The light of early morning
rides the wind into this rocky
chamber
facing to the east.
We are drawn to this sacred place
because
we are young
and have need to feel the warmth
which feeds our
souls
when we are with the pack.
Then, or course, there is the
matter
of our speech, our native tongue,
how we tell our sisters and our
brothers
of the deepest longings
in our hearts.
If we do not
come
to hear our elders sing
how will we learn our song?
-- Clarence C. Kean
Portsmouth, N.H.
Novena
1.
Songbirds raise the sun
while half the moon
still
glows.
2.
On frozen soil
her toes seek
to clear the path of its
rubble.
3.
Brown and gray
the colors of winter
threaten the
palette.
4.
In Mogadishu
she calls out
for
bread.
5.
Houses loom silent.
Inside her ear
there are
hymns.
6.
If she worships Allah
someone will kill
her tiny
children.
7.
In the hills
quakes split her
land.
Afghanistan.
8.
Today her sister
may implode
herself
at the border.
9.
She kneels.
Songbirds raise the
sun
while half the moon still glows.
-- Jean Colgan Gould
Natick, Mass.
St. Dominic’s Tower
The trees toll
Like a church bell.
It is Sunday
morning
And a border of budding trees peals.
They encircle a field
As
God embraces the earth,
Like surround sound
Of a roundelay.
The trees
ring
On worship day.
The deep, vast woods
Summon adoration.
The
tolling echoes
And my heart is lifted
Through the lacey trees,
Each
maple, elm and birch, a steeple.
-- Cecelia Johnson
Philadelphia
Drosophilia: in a warm winter
fruit fly
-- last one:
do you hover
so
persistent
(having mated)
always heavy over
some sweet place
here,
only
to lay your children
to nurse
in my empty house
feeding on
this glass
of lingering sweetness
this december?
--
welcome.
-- Anne Heutte
Washington
Poems should be previously unpublished and limited to about 50
lines and preferably typed. Please send poems to NCR POETRY, 115 E.
Armour Blvd., Kansas City MO 64111-1203. Or via e-mail to
poetry@natcath.org or fax (816) 968-2280. Please include your street
address, city, state, zip and daytime telephone number. NCR offers a
small payment for poems we publish, so please include your Social Security
number.
National Catholic Reporter, September 6,
2002
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