This dry summer and the Earth is cracked Opening rifts around the more recent Graves where my mother and sister are buried So riven and shrunken the soil Their headstone rocks to my weight and There is nothing to depend upon Yet still I’ll tarry Sketch the scene Walk the churchyard Wonder at the Cypresses …

When at Cambridge

When at Cambridge I was bound by urgent torments of prejudice.  Not just the fears of status jealously desired but immeasurable views, a paralax of shadows, a chiaro-scuro of moorish taste. He fat, she common, he wrong, she right. Always a frame like a butcher evaluating, scouring the block.  The memoried practiced eye weighing his …