Thursday, August 30, 2007

To You Wherever You Are Walking

to you whenever you are walking
underneath the starry or
the starless skies


where fountaining trees cast

flowers before you
where your kindness may be suddenly


not mirrored

to you

whenever you are
waking or sleeping

whether you dream of
the end or the beginning
whether you are clothed in


light or sudden confusion
whenever you are at

the entrance or the exit

may you stand always

in the circumference
of so many angels-

mary angela douglas 30 august 2007

Tuesday, August 28, 2007

My Words Burst Into Bloom

my words burst into bloom
singeing no one
I am a cloud on fire


sheer winds transposed
into your key
the moon unclouded



the moon unclouded

a universe outside
an open window
extant-

the guardian of nothing broken.

mary angela douglas 28 august, 2007

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

My Star, My Shield I Will Keep

my star my shield I will keep

your shining
in uncreated sky

enduring - before and after

at a distance far
from all torment

I will sing entirely silver
around you

gathering the shattered nebulae
of your heart rending

my heart, my heart rending yours

like far-flung flowers of
exponential light

intended and intended by God

mary angela douglas 22 august 2007

Friday, August 17, 2007

Be My Heart, Be My Shield


["Iniquitous courts have banished the moonlight"-
Natalya Gorbanevskaya]

be my heart
be my shield
in the overcast moment

whenever I am lost
in this general lack of splendor-
whenever the mists come down

ah we cannot save the stars beneath our feet
they have cast down
they have cast_ down _

when dubious courts condemn
the singing word
be my heart
be my shield
whenever the lack of feeling

is regarded as a
mark of greatness
when the love of gold

but not the golden
predominates

oh my dove


mary angela douglas 17 august 2007

Thursday, August 09, 2007

Depth Charges At Every Level

depth charges at every level
stifling the endless cri de coeur
they have lost patience with

you, cry of my heart

in any language

I will defend

your light

your light
your light

mary angela douglas 9 august 2007

Stringing My Illiterate Lyre

STRINGING MY ILLITERATE LYRE

stringing my
illiterate lyre
I shriek bird cries
within the morning-

fragile flutter
at my ribcage
flights of an austere passion-
breaking for the Sun


when you go
past the Madonna
marble shatters:
complicating moonlight

in your mind


oh bruise the
denying rituals;
cry bright ascent
in darkness:

Christ broke his body
on the sun

where Beauty breaks the prisons of our sleep

mary angela douglas 
Fontbonne College
St. Louis Missouri
September 12, 1970

Suffusing My Heart in Sunrise

suffusing my heart in sunrise

colors in rosepetaled

singing, in ardor of

arbors unabated birdsong 

like small stereoscopic
waterfalls of

feeling from a distance,

intuitions incarnadine:
impanel, petal on petal the

rose of my soul


mary angela douglas 9 may 1999

Jeanne D'Arc

taking up your banner of lilies
I will remember, flame:
not that of the end

or the failed luminescence of

kings in hiding-

but light of earliest

annunciations

to your field-flower heart

not even archangels could
tread down-

in this century or in any


other


mary angela douglas 15 may 1999

The Fairytale Stories Will Emerge

the fairytale stories will emerge
released from cameo existence
from their backdrops of painted

moons-


with stars and islands unforgotten
inscribed with kaleidoscopic
joy

with silver hung high in tangled
branches branching over

the realistic legend of our freedom


mary angela douglas 29 may 1999

Do Not Speak In The

do not speak in the
color of moonlight
do not signify

anything


the wind will touch your
eyes and be silent
the rain will fall at

your feet-

only an ellipse
of light will be granted
but it will be

infinite

mary angela douglas 11 june 1999

Neither Shouted Nor Spoken

neither shouted nor spoken
you start to form everything
from snow from clouds


from dissolving seas from

one leaf disengaged from
a tree neither scarlet nor


golden



mary angela douglas 3 february 1999

This Is Not A Valentine

this is not a valentine
but it is my one-of-a-kind
rosebud phrase


I hold out into space


oh meteor-ridden sky I

believe in you and your
suns that should never


set


mary angela douglas 29 january 1999

Snow After Snow Will

snow after snow will
fall-
still you will keep

in your mind a fragility

that won't be expended.

starpoint will interlace

starpoint-
angels will all stand still

crystals will endlessly augment

crystals of a later
life

mary angela douglas 29 january 1999

Blossoming Sea And

blossoming sea and
scent of my sorrow.
manifold turquoise


of the storm. I

seek the waters
of your heart and

am torn by emeralds


mary angela douglas 15 may 1972

I Trace The Pattern On The

I trace the pattern on the
window of something
unexpected.

will you leave in my heart
this imprint of ice, will
you leave

the window frame catches my
sleeve, my breath

at the window makes
clouds upon clouds:
you have clouded my

heart

something is disappearing
that never existed,
rimmed with

flowers of ice

(my poem)

mary angela douglas 18 february 1998

In a Hurry You Explained

in a hurry you explained
the rainbow on the wall
we made phone calls to


Canada



You looked at the map at

night, night beatified
your face


that wasn't there-



with just pocket change I

guess like an exiled king
you left


you left



some books on electronics

I tried to figure
out: the rooms for


rent across the street

turned out to be
condemned. I wished you


had not left like the

rainbow on the wall


mary angela douglas 1 january 1998

All Your Fallen-Down Castles

all your fallen-down castles-
all your Spanish moments
caught from the current of speech

like one castanet on fire-
why does the moon like
a rose appear

folding itself like a fan?
but
never fully silver

beyond your trees

mary angela douglas 22 november 1998

Held In The Heart Like Splendor

held in the heart like splendor-
like splendor of words unspoken
like radiance known but

not known

like a rose that unfolds and
is still, unfolding
never losing the essence-

like the heart unreleased
from pure longing to love

beauty like this cannot be discounted

mary angela douglas 9 june 1999

They Know The Steps

they know the steps
but feeling from the world is fled
I sometimes think

not as in former days
walking with You by green waters-

the stage is filled to the brim-
but the gestures fall away
and I can't bear, can you?-
this accumulation of unscripted light

but grieve
over these too-clouded scenes-

mary angela douglas 7 may 2004

I Saw The Lyre Of Heaven Broken

I saw the lyre of heaven broken-
and children's voices


afterschool



played only jewel-box music

in the afternoon


while angels sped on waves

that would not reach us


and empty branches could not

hold the backyard's sky


once so filled with light



mary angela douglas 11 january 2005/19 september 2005

Sorrow Is Sifting Down

sorrow is sifting down
over the pine-needled ground


over the palaces in the distance



sadness is setting in

at odds with a rose-ridged
sky


while under the ice, newly forming-

the waters of this
fairytale recede-

mary angela douglas 23 january 2005

There Are No Bankable Angels

there are no bankable angels
sent on routine missions by
a routine god

and even if every frame is
filled with moonlight
light itself is always

elsewhere-


oh couriers of fire
withstand
every single piece

of audition advice

mary angela douglas 19 august 2003

Format

these edges of weeping snow surround
the stanzas they mark out
inevitably


I wish you could hear



the weeping stillness gather

its syllable children row
after row


into this so equidistant

typestricken universe you


have broken my immeasurable heart-



mary angela douglas 12 july 2003

Running Down The Crystal Staircase

running down the crystal staircase
with no crystal shoes
remembering the prince with a backward

glance

everything was not translated



she cried at a tree overlooking her mother's grave

and her tears caused everything

then her heart that

crystal most isolate

began to break

when the translators failed everyone
and shattered the unsurpassed-

mary angela douglas october 1997/30 may 2005

Monument, 2

broken candle in my heart
unthreaded needle of moonlight
lighthouse to which

no ships will ever come



gather in your clouded-over

stars:
I will sleep beneath

your lack of branches.


mary angela douglas 15 may 1999

For A Little While, The Light On Lorca's Face

for a little while, the light on Lorca's face
lay in shadow-



the angels carried their
carnations softly;

the windmill of the universe was repealed.



Quixote, having no tears left:
bowed down under

a moon of shaded green


mary angela douglas 29 january 1999

Wednesday, August 08, 2007

The Peau De Soie Dress in The Corner

the peau de soie dress in the corner
orange blossoms scattered everywhere.
in bare feet I sweep the floor


the night birds are all singing

their anointing songs

my hair glistens like the stars

it falls down like sorrow


before You, somewhere.


mary angela douglas 2 may 1999

A Pink Chalk Moon Rising Behind A Blue House

a pink chalk moon rising behind a blue


house, like a candy-colored picture


from a children's storybook:

through the storybook glass wall the yellow
leaves rained down and down
the blue house sinking under the


chalk pink moon trembled


snow fell exactly like sugar
crystals and disappeared as
if it never formed in flakes in

gestures too accelerated
on the blue porch in the
dazzling day's

goodbye-


mary angela douglas 1994

The Book I Was Reading

the book I was reading
turned to fire but my
hands were

cool

beyond all silver
left on earth
I turned another page-

the stars came out-

mary angela douglas 1 july 1999

All Night Long

all night long
I was writing in
your code

the stars came out
in my poem

the clouds flew over
and the birds sang
as if there had

never been sorrow

mary angela douglas 29 january 1999

Leaving The Incandescent World

leaving the incandescent world
behind, I flew into
new distresses

still, the green leaves were

kind, the small flowers
valiant

in that atmosphere the

memory of air
sustained us-

mary angela douglas 12 june 1999

All Images Of Beauty Are Effaced

all images of beauty are effaced
by the conquerors when they come-
all images are subdued

by tribunals who organize

to excise from the children's texts:

"Beauty is truth, truth, beauty."*

and all illustrations of ineffable

mystery.

the red rose bordered hem of Yeats

and myriad other singers of the real-
the true, my shining God-

are banished


(by whom and for what purpose?)

from the coffee houses of the free-


mary angela douglas 8 november 1997

*John Keats, "Ode on a Greecian Urn"

I Was Skating On Silence

[to Ekaterina Gordayaeva]

I was skating on silence

I was not deterred-
I was breathing in the

winds that never ended.

they went straight through
my soul-

like a love uncomprehended


I was gliding through silence


like glades of ice, my

heart broke open more

than any rosemary angela douglas 25 december 1997

Manassas, I Remember

Manassas, I remember your scorched earth-
a handful of yellow leaves,
trembling-

your letters tied with no ribbon.

but I won't be going
through all those

doorways hidden in your mists;

I can't be buried under your snow,
your sad angels.

I won't be walking up your

honeysuckled road
and crying

mary angela douglas 30 may 1998

I Lost That Summer Walking On

I lost that summer walking on
golden sidewalks,

returning to no wisteria-laden porch-

the golden road slit

through the universe.

like the girl with

red shoes I
just kept going down it
under no sky at all


while the sea filled up with clouds-

mary angela douglas 30 may 1998

It's Just Breadcrumbs Under Moonlight

it's just breadcrumbs under moonlight-
but fear is swallowed up
by the bravery of children on their own

now it's white stones

no birds would want

and the moon is less bright-



but I hear their frail footfall

how I recognize the sound-

like the blind

knowing my place of light in the dark woods

mary angela douglas 25 october 2005

You Couldn't Return My Phone Call

you couldn't return my phone call
but I thought you might come
along some route I


had yet to imagine. (in case of

spiritual fires or real emergencies)-
stand on the doorstep and


say something familiar,

as if it were last week and
not last century

launching the porch swing

with one fingertip
into the

summer sky-


speak into the wind as into

a receiver!

as it happens, sometimes,

in other people's poetry-

how many days or nights

unaccounted for, like counting
stars, not possible,

thinking you would come:

still looking for some
dream caravan by some

mirrored pond's reflection:

the dancer balanced by the castle
and the soldier never wavered-

mary angela douglas 4 february 1998/10 may 2005/30 august 2005

Pandora Opened A Box Of Light

Pandora opened a box of light.
this time she wasn't dismissed
from the universe

all her colors rose

they didn't cause any trouble
only angels of mercy stood at

the round earth's unimagined

corners
and she kept her distress

to herself


mary angela douglas 30 january 1999

Like Exupery's Rose

like Exupery's rose I

thought myself
well guarded-

but for inward
shattering
I was not prepared:

to be the suffusion of
so much-
bright with the crosswinds
of stored-up

feeling-

a rose of no rising age

mary angela douglas 3 march 2001

Against Your Invisible Shoulder (Hymn)

against Your invisible shoulder
I often rest my head
meteors weep from great distances

I only sigh

I have garnered everything

from your intuited presence

what alone is brighter

than your shadow

mary angela douglas 5 july 1999

After The Messengers Leave

after the messengers leave-
you sit in a room with
curtains of light


and no furnishings



wishing there was

another way out-

no more angels at the

doorway-
just an indrawn breath-

a disbelief in

celestial repetitions .

and blank directives from

a book of snow-

mary angela douglas 11 march 2003

Sadness Is A Kingdom With Starless Walls

sadness is a kingdom with starless walls
where the curtains must remain drawn and
where no valentines are ever sent


where there are many investitures of snow

and mirrors through which the fairytale cannot
be accessed

and where, if the golden ball drops down

the well, no one
retrieves it

where golden wands are broken and

no Christmas ornaments are
stored in the attic
and where

in a sea of crystal the mermaid disappears

on a wave that cannot reach the prince-

mary angela douglas february 2005