October 21, 1947- March 19, 2010Poet
My poems come from the unconscious – I'm irrevocably tied to the lives of all people, both in and out of time.
Dread (W. W. Norton & Co., 2003); Vice (1999), which won the National Book Award for Poetry; Greed (1993); Fate (1991); Sin (1986), which won an American Book Award from the Before Columbus Foundation; Killing Floor (1979), which was the 1978 Lamont Poetry Award of the Academy of American Poets; and Cruelty (1973).
Best American Poetry
Modern American Poetry
She must know the weight of a man's hand,
the bruises that are like the wounds of Christ. Her blood that is black at the heart
must flow until it is as red and pure as His. And she must be pregnant always
if not with child
then with the knowledge
that she is alive because of you. That you can take her life
more easily than she creates it,
That suffering is her inheritance from you
and through you, from Christ,
who walked on his mother's body
to be the King of Heaven. — “The Mother's Tale,” Sin (1986)
1 comment:
Another poet I should know about.
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