resistance we bring to life.

Alice James; her Diary

          Sage

Why should a man die whilst sage grows in his garden?

Sage masks the odor of meat kept long past winter

takes away shaking of the members

when I was eight I fell

off a steamshovel

I have been afraid of something

ever since

It is likewise commended against the spitting of blood

I virtually never spit blood

strengtheneth the sinews

while I am dying

I pass time

honing my forearms

to the tension of milkweed pods

I am stronger than he thinks

I have no idea how strong I am

                                   The Wind's Wife

Children stamp on it, and men in mockery call it 'The wind's wife.'

It is a condition, a sickness, a loneliness that results in low wages and merits the smug smile of the car mechanic. But there is nothing that is, by its nature, lonely, except perhaps the black widow who can count on visitors, which, what with spinning and eating, may be more than sufficient to her needs. In order to feel the comings and goings along the silk you must be at the center, there to funnel the wind and be left by it after the blow.

Alice James Books

1975

Cover painting: Arthur Yanoff