Alchemy
In the 1800s
the Thames River stank
so wretchedly
people ran with handkerchiefs
over faces to residence
or carriage
while in the alleys of London
the coatless children died.
The human heart filled with knowledge
and fish jumped clear. The air went pure.
In the 2020s rivers rise on fire
with stench of oil and spill.
Pelicans
tangled with plastic fishlines
no longer fly. Ducks die.
Human hearts,
fill with knowledge, please,
grow a lotus from our deepening mud.
House
Within the wall there is
a room
and in the room
there is a
chair and
on that chair
there sat a man
and in that
man there was
a home made
of woman
chair and wall
and on that wall
there is a photo and
in that photo there
smiles a man and
on the rug there
sat the chair
and in that chair
a woman came
and took the hand
of the man who in
the photo held
a woman’s hand and
to that wall they
both assembled
to stand within
a golden frame
until the day
this poem was
written so
they could
sit upon a chair
within the walls
where there was
once a rug and
where there
was a chair
with a man who
loved a woman
who loved a man
who held his hand
within a house
made of walls.
Grace Cavalieri's newest publication is What the Psychic Said (Goss Publications, 2020). She has twenty books and chapbooks of poetry in print, and has had 26 plays produced on American stages. She founded and still produces "The Poet and the Poem," a series for public radio celebrating 40 years on-air, now from the Library of Congress.. She received the 2013 George Garrett Award from The Associate Writing Programs. To read more by this author: Grace Cavalieri: Winter 2001; Introduction to "The Bunny and the Crocodile" Issue: Spring 2004; Grace Cavalieri on Roland Flint: Memorial Issue; Grace Cavalieri: Whitman Issue; Grace Cavalieri: Wartime Issue; Grace Cavalieri: Evolving City Issue; Grace Cavalieri: Split This Rock Issue; Grace Cavalieri on Ann Darr: Forebears Issue; Grace Cavalieri on "The Poet & The Poem": Literary Organizations Issue.