Snow Monkey
About Us Snow Monkey Online Archive Books from Ravenna Press Snow Monkey: An Eclectic Journal: The Ballad of Maria Virgo by Corrine De Winter

The Ballad of Maria Virgo

Corrine De Winter

(Part I)
In lavender sleep
my lovers row to a black shore,
Stella Maris guiding them.
They carry no frankincense,
no polished brass to burn
sticky myrrh.
They bring only the importance
of wild, unprotected places.
Shelter and absolute mercy.
 
See that
I am sweet.
I am Ruby, with lips
brighter than hell.
I am the comfort
of a harvest moon.
I am sound, just like you.
 
Let me tell you
About the men with poppies
In their veins
Full of the brothers Grimm when they spoke,
But deaf and mute when it came to love.
 
Or Saint Jerome,
sleeping on my floor,
amulets and charms tucked in his clothes,
symbols to keep
love at the door.
But Jerome, your efforts were in vain.
Ever after in the wide world
you saw my face wherever you went,
in tree bark and stained floors.
Everyone thought you'd gone mad.
 
And Lucifer - before the fall,
named for the morning Star.
Fireflies sprang from his kisses.
 
Mystery was the first face I loved.
I laid awake 129 days and nights
imagining its face and hands,
my arms full of roses,
my bed red with roses,
my mouth a rose in bloom.
The whole room
intoxicated, sub rosa,
with every thorn still intact.
 
2 faces emerged
From the shadows.
One flesh and blood,
The other a dark outline
Like the shroud of Turin.
 
Let me tell you about that
crooked angel called Desire.
Out of nowhere its fire
makes room for you.
On the C train
in the alleyway fringed with trash.
It comes for you like the Snow Queen
with her shard of glass
stuck in a young eye.
It is patient
like the art of taxidermy.
It comes for you
with valium-slow steps
delivering a slew
of valentines for the dead.
 
(Part II)
It happened one night
By the dirty river-
The stars in the sky
Swirled like bees,
Stilll water dark as a womb
In the sloe-colored night.
 
He sat there, this boy, like an epiphany,
Waiting for something to worship.
Whether full of heaven or hell
I could not tell.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All materials on this site are © 2003. No materials may be copied, reposted, or reused without written consent of their creator(s). For more information about this site or about Snow Monkey, contact Kathryn Rantala. If this page is not within a frame, go to Snow Monkey's main page.