by Michael Waters
American Poets Continuum
Series
In the title poem of this collection, the speaker declares that
“the common measure of love is loss,” a signature
motif of the work of Michael Waters, one of the finest poets
of his generation. Parthenopi: New and Selected Poems blends
the best of Waters’ vivid and sensual poems from his previous
collections with new work. Like Whitman, Waters challenges us
to embrace humanity’s imperfections while, at the same
time, urging us toward new spiritual realities. Riding the confluence
of idea and metaphor, these poems maintain their psychological
intensity even as they evoke sharp memories and the various
dynamics of emotional aftermath.
Scotch and Sun
Home
from night shift, my father
was
too wired from fighting warehouse fires
to
sleep--so he'd sip several Dewar's
then
rouse me for a morning at the beach.
There
the combination of scotch and sun
would
knock him out for a couple hours
while
I invented tasks near the breakage--
skimming
clam shells, counting one-legged gulls--
till
he woke to hoist me onto his shoulders
and
march into the sea, deeper with each step.
He'd
look down to find a boy propped there,
his
blazing, acceptable burden, his crown, almost
an
abstraction shimmering from his skull,
some
image of himself he once believed he'd been.
Then
arch his neck to shut away the glare.
That
noon I leaned too far back, back until my head
dipped
into the combers, then below...
I
struggled, thrashing my legs,
but
my father clasped them tighter, closer
to
his chest, oblivious, and went on
breasting
the rollers, teasing the undertow.
Those
broad shoulders eclipsed the sun.
Then
hands grasped my hair--I was choking--
while
my startled father stammered excuses
to
the impromptu chorus of gawking bathers.
He
was more surprised than I, more scared.
He
shook when he told my furious mother.
He
simply had no idea, he said. Jesus,
that
boy almost drowned
though
I held him in my arms.
Available editions:
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Cloth
ISBN: 1-880238-96-9
Price: $25.00
Publishing Date: December 2000
Paperback
ISBN: 1-880238-95-5
Price: $15.95
Publishing Date: December 2000
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