Monday, November 20, 2006

Rebel Girl's Poetry Corner: Dark Sacred Night

Years ago, - Rebel Girl is now at an age that when she says years it does indeed mean years, - so over two decades, nearly a quarter-century ago, Red Emma, who even then was a man who knew what he wanted, gave her the following poem. (Yes, they go waaay back folks, those two.) Yes, he typed the poem out as was done then.

Rebel Girl had never heard of the poet before, the great Peter Everwine who lived then and lives still (someone say yes!) in the great Central Valley of California. The poem was from Everwine's book Keeping the Night. She taped the poem to the wall of her small kitchen, above the round table where they first began to eat regularly together. Rebel Girl cooked Red his first artichoke, made him drink coffee, red wine, ouzo. He kept giving her poems. She is, all these years later, still thankful.


Night
- Peter Everwine

In the lamplight falling
On the white tablecloth
My plate,
My shining loaf of quietness.

I sit down.
Through the open door
All the absent I love enter
And we eat.


~RB

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1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Now THAT'S a Thanksgiving poem. Thanks, Reb.

Roy's obituary in LA Times and Register: "we were lucky to have you while we did"

  This ran in the Sunday December 24, 2023 edition of the Los Angeles Times and the Orange County Register : July 14, 1955 - November 20, 2...