The Collected Poems of Barbara Guest. Barbara Guest

       iii

      I would walk from this porch to your farthest

      do I dare

      Lights without you the house is ghosty

      the pier is broken

      its points are webbed

      cricket and bird song about alas

      until morning the great sea and ledge

      from which pines such low soundings pines

      that are green and sea that is swelling

      sea whose earth is sandy who in sleep

      changes as the pilot arm beckons

      the arm we lie on shifts

      early the stir

      to crease from night close to begin

      to gather to fall as Wave

      Bountiful and Bare

Geography

       cold

      Moon track across the snow field

      a saddle I ride its rope

      into the light

      the flank is soft

      a fine departure the snow

      bears my weight

       to the mosses

      the ripest blossoms fall

      turn black in water

      so dependency on sun is error

      rather blue milk fields skimmed

      and grass shod of twilight plain

      than urn water swamp

      on however

      the swamp leaves at horse’s neck

      a chatter of owl and bird fright

      the rope loosens

      the hand is moist with vine leech

      a journey wince of cowhide

      shriek and storm where weather

      suddenly

      warms

      we reach the pole

      of earth statues

       heat

      visibleness decreases

      immaculate as a heron

      without rust

      I shine

      the snow in the wound

      becomes stucco

      the magnificent sun

      waves a flag above it

      *Jaffa Juce is an orange drink high in vitamins, low in price, bottled and drunk in Britain.

       The Blue Stairs

The Blue Stairs

      There is no fear

      in taking the first step

      or the second

      or the third

      having a position

      between several Popes

      In fact the top

      can be reached

      without disaster

      precocious

      The code

      consists in noticing

      the particular shade

      of the staircase

      occasionally giving way

      to the emotions

      It has been chosen

      discriminately

      To graduate

      the dimensions

      ease them into sight

      republic of space

      Radiant deepness

      a thumb

      passed over it

      disarming

      as one who executes robbers

      Waving the gnats

      and the small giants

      aside

      balancing

      How to surprise

      a community

      by excellence

      somehow it occurred

      living a public life

      The original design

      was completed

      no one complained

      In a few years

      it was forgotten

      floating

      It was framed

      like any other work of art

      not too ignobly

      kicking the ladder away

      Now I shall tell you

      why it is beautiful

      Design: extraordinary

      color: cobalt blue

      secret platforms

      Heels twist it

      into shape

      It has a fantastic area

      made for a tread

      that will ascend

      Being humble

      i.e. productive

      Its purpose

      is to take you upward

      On an elevator

      of human fingerprints

      of the most delicate

      fixity

      Being practical

      and knowing its denominator

      To push

      one foot ahead of the other

      Being a composite

      which sneers at marble

      all orthodox movements

      It has discovered

      in the creak of a footstep

      the humility of sound

      Spatially selective

      using this counterfeit

      of height

      To substantiate

      a method of progress

      Reading stairs

      as interpolation

      in the problem of gradualness

      with a heavy and pure logic

      The master builder

      acknowledges this

      As do the artists

      in their dormer rooms

      eternal banishment

      Who are usually grateful

      to