Hi, Alicia, there's been a wonderful dialogue here, and I'm enjoying your time as Lariat. The first poem I read from you I'd discovered in a BAP, and I immediately found myself in search of more of your work.
I'm copying it in for AS fans, (I've just realized the initials of your book mirrors the initials of your name), who may not have had the pleasure, and would like to ask, if any small parts of the poem, are indeed, directly quoted. I'd also like to know if you've passed through a free verse phase, or if you still dabble in it, and if so, if you might copy in a poem or two for us who like to imagine ourselves somewhat ... ambidextrous. Ah, one more question -- after you've seen a particular poem in print, are you inclined to satisfaction, or are you continuously wishing you could take it back and revise it ?
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Asphodel
--A.E.Stallings
(after the words of Penny Turner, Nymphaion, Greece)
Our guide turned in her saddle, broke the spell:
"You ride now through a field of asphodel,
The flower that grows on the plains of hell.
Across just such a field the pale shade came
Of proud Achilles, who had preferred a name
And short life to a long life without fame,
And summoned by Odysseus he gave
This wisdom: 'Better by far to be a slave
Among the living, than great among the grave.'
I used to wonder, how did such a bloom
Become associated with the tomb?
Then one evening, walking through the gloom,
I noticed a strange fragrance. It was sweet,
Like honey -- but with hints of rotting meat.
An army of them bristled at my feet."
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[This message has been edited by wendy v (edited June 10, 2001).]
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