By Ruth Daigon
the scarred moon hangs overhead
moss spreads underfoot
vines multiply moment by moment
pulling her into the undergrowth
until shadows shrink at the first light
and small animals cry yes and
again yes
she moves into morning hours
blank as the names of the unborn
and opens her hands
as if to touch spring's lush palette
the rinsed body of earth
and every morning is childhood's mapless country
raw and splendid
walking barefoot in the wash of sunrise
feeling the blood's ascension
and her own sweet pulp
clear veins and ripened skin
she hears the summer glories
the birds shrill necessities
cadenzas ardent and unending
all through midsummer's extravagance
and in August heat
things slow becoming still
as if earth stopped to take a breath
at that moment she descends into hunger
before moving toward something certain
like the long swim toward the silence of absolute light
Ruth Daigon, winner of the Ann Stanford Poetry Award, in 1997 also the "The
Eve of St. Agnes Poetry Award in 1994 and runner up in 1995 Prior to her
career in poetry she was a professional singer: a Columbia Recording Artist,
a guest artist on CBS's Camera Three, a soloist with the New York Pro Musica.
In the late seventies, she made the transition to full time poet, editor,
performance artist. She was founder/editorof the poetry publication Poets
On: for the 20 years of its lifetime. Daigon is a regular on the Internet
with 3 chapbooks on Web Del Sol, Pares Cum Paribus (Chile) and The Alsop
Review plus numerous publications in hard copy magazines and anthologies.
Her most recent book Between One Future And The Next, Papier- Mache Press,
was published in 1995. Her latest book "The Moon Inside" has just been
published Gravity/Newton's Baby. A selection of her poems entitled "Ruth
Daigon's Greatest Hits" is forthcoming from Pudding House publications as
part of their Gold chapbook series
".....Ruth Daigon's work is a long drink of cold crystalline spring
water....clear without being shalllow;direct without simplification... Her
poems are like small very sharp knives that peel back clutter, enabling the
reader to see beneath the daily surface of the ordinary.. Her work is ripe
and shapely as a perfect piece of fruit....." --Marge Piercy
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