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Mark Jarman
reads
Prayer to End a Dry Spell
in Real Audio format.
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Edna St.Vincent Millay,
Help me out today.
Lately, I have been dumb,
Brooding at my dull desk,
Desiring, as if it were sex,
Some other occupation.
You were better at this one.
I think of you sprawled in bed
After lovemaking, sated,
And already making the poem.
I’d rather, instead of your lover,
Have been a word in your ear,
A yearning to begin,
Its tune like an earring
Chirping the first idea,
That “Yes, uh huh,” that “Yeah,”
Its climax still far off.
I wish I were the lift
Of spirits that made you rise
(As your lover closed his eyes)
And find some place to write
All morning, all day, all night.
Maker of chills and fevers,
Of sunup and midnight dew,
With your heirloom silver rhymes,
Your lyrics living and dead,
Turning flesh and blood lovers
Into paper ghosts,
St. Vincent Millay, St. Edna,
Help me get something said,
Whatever it costs.
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