Nov 21, 2016 | Chiastic, Grief, Gus Stevens, Regret, Winter
The woman at the counter said she could not tell me where the poet Roethke drowned. The Bloedel Reserve wanted to put on a happier face, a garden in the wood and clifftop eyes above the grey-blue Sound. The pool where they discovered him was gone; the dying place torn...
Jul 10, 2016 | Gus Stevens, Regret, Songs for the Dead, Sonnet, Terza Rima
Scarlett, O Scarlett, you are self-destroyed because you would not see your truest friend and despised all you might have else enjoyed. I ache over you, as the pages end, though, yes, “Tomorrow is another day.” We knew your iron will would never bend;...
Jul 10, 2016 | Alexandrine, Erotic, Love, Regret, The Work of Greater Minds
Last night, ah, yesternight, betwixt her lips and mine There fell thy shadow, Cynara! thy breath was shed Upon my soul between the kisses and the wine; And I was desolate and sick of an old passion, Yea, I was desolate and bowed my head: I have been faithful to thee,...
Mar 27, 2016 | Grief, Gus Stevens, Regret, Songs for the Dead, Sonnet, Victorian Sonnet
He’d sprinted blind into the open road and she didn’t have time to steer away. I told myself of mercy, something owed, when I drove the second car to hit the stray. I had aimed for the neck to make it quick yet still felt all the worse for paying it. The...
Oct 16, 2013 | Gus Stevens, Irregular Rhyme, Quatrains, Regret, Sinner's Psalms vol. 1
Hearing the car approach, the garage door open, the engine stop, the driver’s door swing shut, I ran from the room where I’d spilled the ink and fear was a goblin clutching at my gut. I’d tried to scrub the sofa cushions clean ...
Dec 30, 2011 | Erotic, Gus Stevens, Quatrains, Regret, Sinner's Psalms vol. 1
We agonize like enemies, like spies, before the King’s abundant table spread; we’d consume each other, but only chew instead. The glimmering creatures are full of lies. We tongue the scraps and bones but cannot feed and though we do not drink, our lips are...
