[Paul Lake]

Here's a wonderful little lyric by Gail White that reminds me a bit of Hardy, from her recent book *The Price of Everything*.

When They Met Again


He: bound for brand-new teaching job
with newly minted Ph.D.
She: married to a CPA
And on her second pregnancy.

Once lovers, met by chance, they chat
Of lives grown prosperous apart.
Like old unjealous friends, they praise
their new successes of the heart.

Each fancies that the other feels
a lingering flame. Their smiles are sad,
But both, on going separate ways,
Thank God for the escape they had.


Gail White

[Tim Murphy]

Like so many of White's poems, it is perfect, n'est-ce pas? The addition or subtraction of a single syllable would totally fuck it up. Yay, Gail!

[Deborah Warren]

People have said it here before: Gail's book," The Price of Everything," is one (of the few) that is worth getting and reading and coming back to again.

[Carl]

Yeah, this is georgeous, and talks of a weird language not too many individuals are aquainted with, but is beautiful nonetheless.

[A. E. Stallings]

Yes, buy the book!

This is one of my favorites, in a different mode:


THE ENGULFED CHATHEDRAL

With a keener eye for symbols than for sense,
they built their church on sand. The last great boat
to bear God's folk--whale-ribbed, shark-jawed, immense,
a gothic monster, light enough to float
(it seemed) in the sunset. And the faithful flocked
to mass, packing the sand with steady shoes,
year after year. When finally they stopped,
leaving the altar gloomy and unused,
the unsettled sand would heap and then subside
restlessly. Seabirds perched on gargoyle heads
with mocking cries. Eventually the tide
itself changed pattern, cut a new sea-bed,
and every morning up the narrow nave
came worshippers, wave after silent wave.

[Gail White]

Paul, thanks for posting me! And all you dear people who had added comments, thanks to you too!
This is the one spot on the Internet where I know I can meet people who actually buy and read poetry books-- and then read them again. Bless you every one.