Lisel Mueller White Poems
- 1. Reading The Brothers Grimm To Jenny
Jenny, your mind commands
kingdoms of black and white:
you shoulder the crow on your left,
the snowbird on your right;
... - 2. Another Version
Our trees are aspens, but people
mistake them for birches;
they think of us as characters
in a Russian novel, Kitty and Levin
... - 3. The Laughter Of Women
The laughter of women sets fire
to the Halls of Injustice
and the false evidence burns
to a beautiful white lightness
... - 4. Monet Refuses The Operation
Doctor, you say there are no haloes
around the streetlights in Paris
and what I see is an aberration
caused by old age, an affliction.
... - 5. Why We Tell Stories
For Linda Foster
I
... - 6. A Day Like Any Other
Such insignificance: a glance
at your record on the doctor's desk
or a letter not meant for you.
How could you have known? It's not true
... - 7. Blood Oranges
In 1936, a child
in Hitler's Germany,
what did I know about the war in Spain?
Andalusia was a tango
... - 8. Five For Country Music
I. Insomnia
The bulb at the front door burns and burns.
If it were a white rose it would tire of blooming
...
