GRETA'S WAIL OF GREATPLAINS LAW / David Steingass
Native Son tried to listen beyond the roar
where edges of the wind struck
Once his ear post began to quiver
the place he found himself spoke
I spin the compass Cha-Cha
You drown in my noose
What do you care the world's flat
long as I'm round
As far as I stretch my waterbed's
an island ripe with legend Place
my way of life & each thigh's shape
a dream you wake from with regret
That's too much too fast
feel your hand wash over me
skin-side down to bedbone
Forget where you're expected
When I seal your lips by tongue
your center jumps and runs out to dance
the shallows of my island continent
Inside each knee knows its way home
once my fingertips raise your skin
By sunset you sting and grow numb
You'll leash your life to stars' cold
frenzy of loneliness and law
____________________
From GreatPlains: A Prairie Lovesong, by David Steingass, a booklength
poem to be published in 2000 by Red Dragonfly Press, The Anderson Center
at Tower View, Red Wing, MN 55066 .
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