Written on 13 April 2019; published on 14 April 2019

Image: “Woman Hanging Out the Wash (‘La blanchisseuse ou femme étendant du linge’), by Berthe Morisot, ca. 1881, in Wikimedia Commons … https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Berthe_Morisot_-_Woman_Hanging_Out_the_Wash.jpg … public domain … DESCRIPTION: Woman in long skirt, blue apron, and long-sleeved white blouse, arms uplifted, hanging clothes on a clothesline. The artist conveys the effect of white, shimmering light on the clothes, the woman, and the background vegetation.

Image: “Woman Hanging Out the Wash (‘La blanchisseuse ou femme étendant du linge’), by Berthe Morisot, ca. 1881, in Wikimedia Commons … https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Berthe_Morisot_-_Woman_Hanging_Out_the_Wash.jpg … public domain …

DESCRIPTION: Woman in long skirt, blue apron, and long-sleeved white blouse, arms uplifted, hanging clothes on a clothesline. The artist conveys the effect of white, shimmering light on the clothes, the woman, and the background vegetation.

Dear Ones,

Late yesterday afternoon, after Palm Sunday Vigil and communion with the holy congregation, I was driving home, and I wrote this poem …

. . . . .

SHEETS OF LIGHT
A Poem by Alice B. Clagett
13 April 2019

Light came down in sheets and folds
. . like cake mix falling into a cake pan
. . like clothes-pinned billows of wet sheets
. . . . .that fold and snap in a wild breeze
. . like Heaven slaloming
. . . . . through the streets.

Now, now is the time.

Dearest of the dear
Nearer than the breath of life
Faster than silver-footed thought

More sure than mother’s love
More curious than cats
More glorious than sunlight
. . caroming past Palm Sunday

Oh my Soul, remember!

……………

–from Link: “Sheets of Light,” a poem by Alice B. Clagett, written on 13 April 2019; published on 14 April 2019 … https://wp.me/p2Rkym-c9k ..

Alice B. Clagett

Except where otherwise noted, “The Chalice and the Crucible” by Alice B. Clagett … https://chaliceandcrucible.com/ … is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA 4.0) … https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/ ..

Published on 15 February 2019

Dear Ones,

Here is a poem from college days, to do with the look of the countryside in winter …

. . . . .

DIAN’S STEEL WHITE ARMOUR
A Poem by Alice B. Clagett
amongst her early works

Dian’s steel white armour stilts a jagged landscape.
Flesh dies with winter, colors recess
and the bared bones of bleached children cry to cold winds.

The crotch of the black barked elm, powdered with snow
like a withered woman upturned, flaunts her indecency.

Summer, gentle lover, bee busy decked her with flowers.
Fall garbed her riotous. The cold lust of his breath
scattered her sage modesty. Remnants wither under
winder’s frozen tears.

Age notwithstanding, she tickles his beard with her toes.
Time will bring her newer dresses, aye, but the waiting is dreary.

. . . . .

Alice B. Clagett

Except where otherwise noted, “The Chalice and the Crucible” by Alice B. Clagett … https://chaliceandcrucible.com/ … is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA 4.0) … https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/ ..

Published on 15 February 2019

Dear Ones,

Here is an early poem …

. . . . .

KITTEN DAWNING
A Poem by Alice B. Clagett
amongst her early works

What ligature compounds this melody?

Awake! The day has just begun!
The animal has wreathed herself beneath my arm
fending the light.

Awake! The shuttered windows perpetrate the sun!

She swarmed into the air, danced there, reneged
grooved deep beneath the sheet
and humpered breathlessly
in the warm, golden darkness.

. . . . .

Alice B. Clagett

Except where otherwise noted, “The Chalice and the Crucible” by Alice B. Clagett … https://chaliceandcrucible.com/ … is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA 4.0) … https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/ ..

Published on 15 February 2019

Dear Ones,

Here is an early poem …

. . . . .

ENTER SOFTLY
A Poem by Alice B. Clagett
amongst her early works

Enter softly.
Do harsh steps shake the world?
molest the grass?
kill caterpillars?

The cold pale knight of morning
unwraps the dead.

Once more, my love
love me more.
I see you in my mind’s eye
with the mind’s kiss
and the mind’s sigh

Cat’s eyes
two yellow slits in a black screen
watched over us.
Clock’s tick
renewed our silent symphony.

Dew tells no audience
the record of such rhapsody.
Only
receding
washes pawpads
of our AWOL guardian.

. . . . .

Alice B. Clagett

Except where otherwise noted, “The Chalice and the Crucible” by Alice B. Clagett … https://chaliceandcrucible.com/ … is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA 4.0) … https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/ ..