Eugenio Montale was an Italian poet awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1975. His work occasionally seems difficult, but the apparent obscurity often arises from references to events in his life of which the reader has no knowledge. The following poem, for example, alludes to an event both poet…
Silence Silence creeps like a thick, white fog To fill her ears and her mind with naught. In the stillness of the blackest night, It amplifies her every fright. Silence— She hates the silence: She wants to fill that void with a joyous sound. The skittering sounds that silence makes…
Huckleberry Juju Huckleberry juju. Magnolia fire. Bayou flatboat. Palmetto moon. Black snake napping Up in a mossy oak. Hound in the swamp. Cottonmouth rainstorm. Sweetgrass baskets. Catching sense. Brotherhood mended Through taking of hands. Gospel elevation At backwoods church. Gullah conversation With the hoodoo man. Sip some sun-brewed tea, Barbequed…
