Michael Waters writes vivid, sensual poems that fuse our longings in this world with the human urge to glimpse whatever lies beyond. Waters' muse is Walt Whitman and, like much of Whitman's work, his poems challenge us to abide one another and embrace humanity's imperfections. Waters' generous poems, crafted syllable by syllable, speak to love and loss, our foibles and shortcomings, and the possibility of aesthetic and spiritual transcendence.
Wasps
for my father
Dead C battery, souvenir lighter, spool of thread,
lipstick tube lacking a smudge of red:
we'd rummage junk drawers to fill the squares.
But the lost chessmen?
— they click against glass, black
bishops bidding me open the window,
wheedling a wary God to release them
to crusade for their king gone ahead to Jerusalem.
©BOA Editions, Ltd 1997
Available editions:
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Paperback ISBN: 1-880238-43-8
Price: $12.50
Publishing Date: January 1997