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Guest Poet Meg Schultz


Sansevieria


"We all live lives well-lived,"
When we are forced to face the sky
And brace against Heaven's sieve.

Now our tongues swing with grit,
Our teeth will till the grass, but
"We all live lives well-lived."

Your mossy tendons cannot heave
To shred the spider's skein
And brace against Heaven's sieve.

From your eyes bloom walking irises
Crippled by the digger's tread, yet still
"We all live lives well-lived."

Starlight smears the crusted spade and
My head lined with final straws;
I brace against Heaven's sieve.

The tiniest slip from the right to the left...
The stolon settles between my chords.
"We all live lives well-lived,"
And brace against the heavens' sieve.

March, 2001



Meg Schultz 's Questions:

I was curious to see if this poem sounded tired enough. That's why I chose the villanelle, with it's repetition, it's sense of mulling. I also would like to know if it sounds a little too cliché. I'm worried about that.



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