Stefanie Bennett- A Poem

COIL, After Yannis Ritsos    

 

Because the asphodels reminded him of his mother

He placed them

In a jar,

On the balcony

Where the owls wept

At eventide.

 

Leaving –, the gate

Unhinged itself,

Pirouetting the balustrade

To shower

The shutters

Rust-shut.

 

What was left stayed

Inevitably the same

 

... Except for

The dissident

Moon-raking mercenary

Wearing

A black

Armband

 

And hand-me-down

Combat boots.

 

 

 

Stefanie Bennett has published nineteen volumes of poetry, a libretto and a novel - and her poems appear in Mad Swirl, Communion, Shot Glass Journal, GalwayReview, Jellyfish Whispers and others. She has acted as a publishing editor and worked with Arts Action for Peace. Of mixed ancestry [Italian/Irish/Paugussett-Shawnee] she was born in Queensland, Australia, in 1945. Stefanie’s current poetry title ‘The Vanishing’ is available from Walleah Press [online] and fishpond.com.