Two Poems by Robert Flanagan
"Anna Babb with Crow-Black Hair" and "Semper Fi"
ANNA BABB WITH CROW-BLACK HAIR
Hot as an oven,
Cold as a clam:
You would compass these poles,
My small man?
Sleet of the heart,
The fire of milk:
This tunnel links the poles,
And your worm trick.
(Note: An early Celtic tribe, the Tuatha de Danaan,
worshipped the mother goddess Ana (or Anu or Danu) who
was the wife of Bile, the god of death, and linked to
Babh and Macha, the "Sinister Women." Life, death and
sex were one in them.)
SEMPER FI
In a bar in Ohio on November 10, the USMC
birthday.
Oh yeah, you were in the Corps?
See any action? A shooting war?
I had, I said. Oh yeah, where was that?
Toledo, mostly. A coupla time Detroit.
|
