Today's in tandem poem is written by Angie Walker and Susie Clevenger. Angie and I came late to the pairing and virtually had no background on one another other than our poetry shared through the garden. After a few questions about ideas and the mutual agreement it would be without rhyme (big sigh of relief on my part) we found inspiration from a quote by Henry Rollins. We were quite amazed how quickly it came together. It appears September's Virgo was happy to be our muse.
"We know that in September, we will wander through the warm winds of summer's wreckage. We will welcome summer's ghost." ~ Henry Rollins
in the ghost leaves of summer,
their drought scarred palms lifted
to capture Aphrodite's sigh
suspended from the umber pause
between changing seasons, Virgo
speaks beatitudes from her book
of sun inked memoirs
blessed be
the dreamers,
the visionaries
who pull light from blind mist,
conjurers with ink and paint,
bold stargazers of the night walk
the poetry lovers
who steal pink skies
and stop sleuthing them
when it's no longer July forever
noses back to grindstone for at least 3 weeks
blessed be
the blood September can't stop letting
while she re-members
her bodiful heedless ventures,
her saturated sweetnesses,
seamless heat, sea to foam
blessed be
the exalted mother May I's,
the steamy air of Aphrodite
with pomegranates jewels
positioned on her tongue just
so it comes as a relief to get plucked
blessed be
don't you think at all?
behold the gods
in their Grecian white robes
and concur they look much less
like whores in brighter bridal months?
blessed be
a cousin's view
through the back door glass
of broken light where St. Michael
keeps on reciting what he's recited so well
through corsets with full-on lips
blessed be
the give-up of playful rain,
the build-up to "give up
on all other worlds
except for the one to which,
and for which you know you belong"
blessed be
the marked apparitions,
the calendar numbers circled in red
underlined and scribbled beneath,
"protect my soul 'neath thy wing,
with the shade of thy wing protect."