Constantly Risking Absurdity

Here’s a poem by Lawrence Ferlinghetti: Constantly Risking Absurdity Constantly risking absurdity                                              and death             whenever he performs                                         above the heads                                                             of his audience    the poet like an acrobat                                  climbs on rime                                           to a high wire of his own making and balancing on eyebeams                                      above a sea of faces              paces his way                               

My Daughter in Winter Costume

painting by Elizabeth Desiree Torbet   Here is a wonderful villanelle from the Irish poet Mary O’Donoghue: MY DAUGHTER IN WINTER COSTUME after John Storrs’ sculpture (1922)   She is sealed like a bomb in her anorak. Her face is flushed fruit under the hood. She’s already moving away. I want to call her back.  

such a curious creature

Master of Calamarca, Angel with Arquebus   Here’s a poem by Emily Dickinson:   THE PAST is such a curious creature, To look her in the face A transport may reward us, Or a disgrace.   Unarmed if any meet her,         5 I charge him, fly! Her rusty ammunition Might yet reply!     <a