Name that poem!

August 4, 2009 3:28 PM

Name that poem! Several years ago I came across a poem on a website that collected a lot of 'classic' English language poems, the sort of stuff you'd find in a Norton anthology. This one was written by a woman, and it was about thinking of someone who was separated by distance. I think there was some mention of 'cold wine' and 'crisp toast'. It was very modern and conversational, so it's definitely not from Browning, Millay, etc.
posted by mattholomew to Media & Arts (3 answers total)

Marilyn Hacker, Rondeau After a Transatlantic Phone Call. "I scrub the sharp edge off my appetite. / I want: crisp toast, cold wine prickling my gums, / love." Full poem is available in an answer from a question a year ago here.
posted by severalbees at 3:49 PM on August 4, 2009

Marilyn Hacker, Rondeau After a Transatlantic Phone Call

Love, it was good to talk to you tonight.
You lather me like summer though. I light
up, sip smoke. Insistent through walls comes
the downstairs neighbor’s double-bass. It thrums
like toothache. I will shower away the sweat,

smoke, summer, sound. Slick, soapy, dripping wet,
I scrub the sharp edge off my appetite.
I want: crisp toast, cold wine prickling my gums,
love. It was good

imagining around your voice, you, late-
awake there. (It isn’t midnight yet
here.) This last glass washes down the crumbs.
I wish that I could lie down in your arms
and, turned toward sleep there (later), say, "Goodnight,
love. It was good."
posted by redfoxtail at 3:49 PM on August 4, 2009 [3 favorites]

Seconds too late!
posted by redfoxtail at 3:49 PM on August 4, 2009