In the Grips of a Sickness Transmitted by Wolves

by Monica Ferrell

Sorrento, at night the long fingers of your orange lights
Prick me in the sizzling streets, where the pinnacles
Of other people ring tinny and papier-måché. Is this the way
Up to the murderous clitt? lt's most important that I get there
And leave no witness. Ah, is this the majolica medallion
Which marks the grave of girl abducted by a stallion
Whom she gave a lump of maple sugar?

For that was in an autumn,
The time of year when young girls get hopeless and feel like
Giving it all away, the way a matronly merchant
Might brush off her lap, at the iron end of the market day:
It's over, it's worthless, without deserving and without
Purpose have I nourished this hope in my small patch of earth,
A sickly weed whose nodding sun's gone nova.





Last updated December 12, 2022