For The Venus Transit, Appropriately

[threeandnine.livejournal.com]

NOR LOOK BEHIND

Remember Lot's wife
How like a woman in a barren field
No stronger than a flower
Not born in shame
Like the deaf adder
Adding fuel to the flame
Of virtue
Of weak minds
Of blame
In naked beauty more
The most when unadorned
Spare not nor look behind
Nor fear
Nor spare
The scorned.

--Harry Crosby
from "Transit of Venus"

Selecting A Reader by Ted Kooser

[ghostofchance.livejournal.com]

First, I would have her be beautiful,
and walking carefully upon my poetry
at the loneliest moment of an afternoon,
her hair still damp at the neck
from washing it. She should be wearing
a raincoat, an old one, dirty
from not having money enough for the cleaners.
She will take out her glasses, and there
in the bookstore, she will thumb
over my poems, then put the book back
upon its shelf. She will say to herself,
"For that kind of money, I can get
my raincoat cleaned." And she will.

Lord Byron

[ian-gazarek.livejournal.com]

And Julia’s voice was lost, except in sighs,
Until too late for useful conversation;
The tears were gushing from her gentle eyes,
I wish, indeed, they had not had occasion;
But who, alas! can love, and then be wise?
Not that remorse did not oppose temptation;
A little still she strove, and much repented,
And whispering “I will ne’er consent”--consented

Selecting a Reader by Scott Cairns

[pyrric.livejournal.com]

Selecting a Reader by Scott Cairns
--after Ted Kooser

The one I want is the one
whose nape is a little damp
from perspiration, and who
would be beautiful if only
her nose were a little shorter, or
if her eyes didn't hint the way they do
of wanting to move closer together.
One of her front teeth will be
leaning just a little on the shoulder
of the other. She will have
come into the bookstore to fill
out a lunch break alone. I'd have her
lift this book not thinking much
about wanting it, but she'd read
this first poem and find herself
smiling, forgetting how her eyes
actually cross when she reads, letting
her lips part just enough for the light
to catch the edge of her tooth.

Danse Russe, William Carlos Williams

[moireach.livejournal.com]

Danse Russe
William Carlos Williams

If when my wife is sleeping
and the baby and Kathleen
are sleeping
and the sun is a flame-white disc
in silken mists
above shining trees,--
if I in my north room
dance naked, grotesquely
before my mirror
waving my shirt round my head
and singing softly to myself:
"I am lonely, lonely.
I was born to be lonely,
I am best so!"
If I admire my arms, my face,
my shoulders, flanks, buttocks
against the yellow drawn shades,--

Who shall say I am not
the happy genius of my household?

" If "

[upatmidnight.livejournal.com]

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too:
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim,
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same:.
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build'em up with worn-out tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings,
And never breathe a word about your loss:
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much:
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!

by Rudyard Kipling

I'm more then not wondering the IF of it all...
I hope you can see the beauty in this piece...
And enjoy it - as much as I do...
It was a beam of hope though a very hard break up a few months back...
Reminding me...
Strength is what is deep within...
Keeping your cool, grace, and learning from all who and that you are surround by...
*soft smile*