Page 27 - Contrast19731974

FROM THE JOURNAL

an old poem sighs quietly in the corner.
typed, centered, and carboned for a literary

career.

like an old friend now: the lines almost
ache with lost love, as they lick silently
the hand that wrote them, while i fold and
file one last copy.

lf publlshlng were an act of loving,
1 would publish you tonight, and
still publish you forever.
1 wl1l never publish any other
poem, if you'll' dare to publish me.
1 will copy you tomorrow and together
we w1ll rhyme a hundred stanzas
as we publish one another in a
llbrary of love.

1 wlll swallow and breath deeply
all poetlcs that you teach me,
as you zerox me to keep far all
our children.

Nancy Barry