THE UNDERGROUND COMMUNION RAIL: POEMS


Albuquerque, New Mexico: West End Press, 1992.
Call Number: (UWM) PS 3556 .I7 U53x 1992 c. 3

Firer comments on her own poetic method: "I share Neruda's belief in an impure poetry, one soiled and stained with our 'shameful behavior . . . vigils and dreams . . . declarations of loathing, love . . . and beasts.' I'm trying to take Anne Sexton's dare to tell it true. . . . 'As a writer one has to take the chance on being a fool,' says Sexton, and I hope I'm risking that, too." This copy of The Underground Communion Rail, Firer's second collection of poetry, is signed by the author.


 "PINK FEBRUARY"

Scrapes in the morning sky fill
with pastel sunrise. Indian red
grapefruit colored sunrise.
The small oak rubbing the large oak
like a bow on a fiddle. Bowls of peach
colored birches. Cardinals red as berries.
45 below zero wind chill Lake Michigan morning
where I have to hide my arms behind my back
to walk the sunrise without them freezing.
25 mph winds, the waves pound in
an explosion of steam and ice. In the woods
someone has tied hot pink satin ribbons
to the trees in a trail to the lake they blow
like Tibetan prayer flags in the wind.

From Underground Communion Rail: Poems (1992). Used with permission of the author.


Back WOMEN OF SPIRIT Next

Table of Contents


Current and Upcoming Exhibits | Main Gallery Exhibits | Side Gallery Exhibits
Guestbook and Comments | Return to Exhibits Page
Return to Special Collections Home Page


© 2000 University of Wisconsin--Milwaukee -- All Rights Reserved.
URL: http://www.uwm.edu/Dept/Library/special/exhibits/women-spirit/firer4.html
Last edited on Wednesday, April 21, 2000.