Babara Guest


1_Barbara-Guest


Parachutes My Love, Could Carry Us Higher


I just said I didn't know 
And now you are holding me 
In your arms, 
How kind. 
Parachutes, my love, could carry us higher. 
Yet around the net I am floating 
Pink and pale blue fish are caught in it, 
They are beautiful, 
But they are not good for eating. 
Parachutes, my love, could carry us higher 
Than this mid-air in which we tremble, 
Having exercised our arms in swimming, 
Now the suspension, you say, 
Is exquisite. I do not know. 

There is coral below the surface, 
There is sand, and berries 
Like pomegranates grow. 
This wide net, I am treading water 
Near it, bubbles are rising and salt 
Drying on my lashes, yet I am no nearer 
Air than water. I am closer to you 
Than land and I am in a stranger ocean 
Than I wished. 


John Ashbery

  The New Spirit (excerpt) I thought that if I could put it all down, that would be one way. And next the thought came to me that to leave a...