BARBARA JORDAN
Urban Setting
I know the telllperament of what we own:
the bureau with its hel1lisphere or light;
the bedlamp 's Crecian sce ne,
t~lint
ormolu;
and L3acon 's portrait of the poet L3lake,
hi s features drawn like silk
over
pe;lrskin,
the pt·tuLillce ur his de;llhlllask, cum posed
in a sea of black, the way Ill y own (Ice
looks back fi'om the window like a ghost
bathed by the glow of the computer 's screen
where tiny planets, l11oon s, and sum
are c lsti ng spores or light across a sp;lce
as passive as the sky at ni ght- or someone
keeping
vigil
with discontent, sta ring
,It things she c.1 n' t articulate;
and pain is
(11'
away, it is m y satellite,
ALBERTO DE LACERDA
Words do spring ti'om yo ur body
Violent birds of tenderness
All your flights
Span:
Immeasu rabl e
I yie ld to thelll
