Martha Collins

Poet, Translator, Editor

Sheer

By Martha Collins

Sheer
$8
  • Publisher: Barnwood Press
  • Available in: Paperback
  • ISBN: 978-0-935306-54-5
  • Published: December 1, 2007
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Beginning with an oblique nod toward memory, this chapbook moves quickly into a territory where personal loss and global violence merge, allowing the poet to explore—through highly nuanced language and insight—the psychological roots and social manifestations of war.

Gradually Sheer moves beyond destruction and loss to a transcendent but earth-embracing vision that acknowledges the unbreakable bonds between death and life, darkness and light, where “words are golden light, on the dark of the water.”

The poems in Sheer have not appeared in a full-length collection.

 

From the Sky

             Snow is expected to fall from the sky.

                      —Boston Globe, March 1999

Snow will fall from the sky
Snow will turn to rain
Rain will fill our streams
The earth will turn again

Snow will turn to rain
Blossoms will fill the trees
The earth will turn again
Petals will fill the air

Blossoms will fill the trees
Petals will fall like snow
Petals will fill the air
Green will fill the trees

Petals will fall like snow
Petals will fall to earth
Green will fill the trees
Where air was, leaves will be

Petals will fall to earth
Leaves will fall from trees
Where air was, leaves will be
Leaves, where there was snow

Leaves will fall from trees
Colors will brighten the air
Leaves, where there was snow
Leaves will fall to earth

Colors will brighten the air
Like hair and blood and skin
Leaves will fall to earth
Where we will fall from our lives

Like hair and blood and skin
Leaves will turn to earth
Where we will fall from our lives
Where we were, air will be

Leaves will turn to earth
Rain will fill our streams
Where we were air will be
Snow will fall from the sky

Martha Collins reads “From the Sky” for NPR

Benediction

 

Not a story, they said, not even a line.

And there wasn't a line, there was a circle.

A perfect circle, though there were breaks.

But it wasn't broken, it was open.

It was open in the spaces between—

It was open in the spaces between them.

And they were like candles, giving light.

But the light came from the length of their bodies.

And they were like lilies, that opened their throats.

And as they opened they almost touched.

And they threw back their heads, and the circle widened.

And there was silence, but they were singing.

Martha Collins reads “Benediction”

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