You walked a crooked mile
you smiled a crooked smile
you dropped a wandering tear
all in a crooked year
When there was one kiss
against ten curses
and one loaf
against ten hungry
and one hello against ten goodbyes
the odds stalked
your crooked steps.
And you turned no corner
without heart-tightening
and against ten cannon
you had one fist
and against ten winters
you had one fire.
Naomi Replansky – you simply have to check out Naomi Replansky…
https://www.poetrysociety.org/psa/awards/annual/winners/2013/award/
I feel her poems in my bones. She has it; the third eye, all seeing, merciless clarity. Stuff I dig.
Naomi Replansky b. 1918 – Naomi Replansky was born in the Bronx, New York, the daughter of Sol Replansky and Fannie Ginsberg. She started writing poetry at the age of ten, and a group of her poems was published in Harriet Monroe’s Poetry when she was sixteen. Replansky was educated in New York public schools and graduated high school in the middle of the Depression. Much later, in 1956, and after publication of her first book. she attended UCLA and graduated with a degree in geography. Her first book Ring Song, was published in 1952 by Scribner’s and was nominated for the National Book Award in poetry….
From Poets of the Non-Existent City, Los Angeles in the McCarthy Era. Edited by Estelle Gershgoren Novak
I know. That title is quite preposterous. Ignore it. I did when I read Replansky’s poem in the book review, and I immediately went out and bought the book. It is excellent.
and against ten cannon
you had one fist
Alan Olee Book Report 