Book #2 of 50
This is yet another book of Poetry from me. I swear the other two books I’m currently reading are not of poetry. This is called, “The Second Child” by Deborah Garrison.
I found this book, basically by browsing the Poetry section at Chapters, and I immediately liked what I saw. Deborah is a contemporary free verse writer who writes about life, love and motherhood after her second child (hence the title of the book).
Her writing is clean and simple. She doesn’t express that overt darkness that I find a lot of contemporary poets do. Well, ones that I read anyway.
I did my best to find a short poem of hers, so that you can see what sort of thing to expect from her.
Song After Everyone’s Asleep
When I woke in the night with a mania
To please you and shifted so you’d shift and
Half-wake too, in the dark without my glasses, you
Without yours, I reached into your shorts; your lashes
Flicked up, and in the blur I caught the smoother face
Of the boy you were when you first grabbed my hand
On the path through the woods behind the school yard,
A stone’s throw from my mother’s house –
When I felt suddenly entire, that I was a whole body
Holding another whole body with my hand.We can never go back there.
But with eyes still closed you smile
Permission for me, with my hand,
To keep you awake awhile.
That one is a bit sexual, but it’s as shocking as it gets. Besides, I still think the undertone is still very sweet.
