Prayer
Once I wore a dress liquid as vodka.
My lover watched me ascend
from the subway
like I was an underground spring
breaking through.
I want to stop wanting to be wanted like that.
I'm tired of the song the rain sings in June,
the earth, her ornate crown of trees
spiking up from her loamy head.
There are things I wanted, like everyone.
But to this angel of wishes I've worshiped
so long, I ask now to admit
the world as it is.
————————
ELLEN BASS
Like a Beggar
Copper Canyon Press, 2014
Oddly, Copper Canyon Press claims Like A Beggar is the poet's third book of poetry,
neglecting to note her first book of poetry — one that I fell for at the time —
I'm Not Your Laughing Daughter (Univ. Mass. Press, 1973). Find that neglected book.
