A Poet's Response

In the Company of Linnie's Pantoums
(Based on the titles of Linnie York's chapbook of original pantoums)

by Linda Wilken



Shall I tell you my favorite

As I watch the brim of my hat meet the larger sky?

Or would you like to guess

The words and things I know transplanted onto tracing paper?



As I watch the brim of my hat meet the larger sky,

An amazing path of irony opens up to

The words and things I know, transplanted onto tracing paper,

Showing me an elaborate facade.



An amazing path of irony opens up to

An epiphany and a shimmer, finally

Showing me an elaborate facade.

So I peel layers in this circle to stillness.



An epiphany and a shimmer, finally.

Great riches lie in keen mistakes and ten quotes.

So I peel layers in this circle to stillness.

It remains untitled, beyond mandala and stories.



Great riches lie in keen mistakes and ten quotes.

The day has come, kensal green, at town landing.

It remains untitled, beyond mandala and stories,

As a villager hob-nails leather onto birch.



The day has come, kensal green, at town landing,

And morning emerges through hollow cliffs, sleepy

As a villager hob-nailing leather onto birch.

Keats and a friend quote pantoums to my socks.

And morning emerges through hollow cliffs, sleepy.
London and a coupe digest only one page of a modern prophet.
Keats and a friend quote pantoums to my socks
In Falmouth, Maine, and Maine, again.

London and a coupe digest only one page of a modern prophet.
And would you like to guess
In Falmouth, Maine, and Maine, again
How I shall tell you my favorite?


Thanks, Linda!