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To the Reader by Denise Levertov

To the Reader
Denise Levertov

As you read, a white bear leisurely
pees, dyeing the snow
saffron,

and as you read, many gods
lie among lianas: eyes of obsidian
are watching the generations of leaves,

and as you read
the sea is turning its dark pages,
turning
its dark pages.

MARGINALIA

A headache the size of the earth this afternoon. I can’t believe how slow this week has been. I want to be near the sea. But you’ll laugh: I still don’t know how to swim.

ABOUT DENISE LEVERTOV

Denise Levertov was born in Ilford, Essex, England, on October 24, 1923. She wrote her first book, The Double Image (Cresset Press, 1946), while she was between the ages of seventeen and twenty-one. Levertov went on to publish more than twenty volumes of poetry, including The Freeing of the Dust (New Directions, 1975), which won the Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize. She spent the last decade of her life in Seattle, during which time she published Sands of the Well (New… (more)

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ENDNOTES

Comments (1)

  • Michelle

    salutations

    reply

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