Paper-Whites for Lady Jane
Poems of a Midlife Love Affair
Hardback and Paperback: 74 pp.
Published: 1995
Price: $18.95, $12.50
BUY THE BOOK from Amazon.com
This sequel to Forever, for Now follows the second year of a romance between two middle-aged lovers, mixing erotic poems with those depicting memorable events they share (attending symphonies, going to the zoo, gardening, listening to jazz, traveling and sightseeing, celebrating holidays) as they journey from passion to the deepening, mellowing affection and intimacy of their new life together. Their growing love is highlighted by a gentle sensuousness, perhaps uncommon to many of us today, that is symbolized by the story’s pervasive paper-whites, an exotically scented variety of narcissus, to which the pair devotedly tend.
Praise:
This exquisite masterpiece of modern poetry, a product of genuine talent, provides hope for the future by renewing our faith in mankind. Remember Brodsky, for sure!
— Denys Viat, author of Les Amoreaux du Printemps and Un Monde en Marge
BUY THE BOOK from Amazon.com
Breathing Eye to Eye
After the newness has passed,
The adhesive that keeps passion intact,
Makes the original sense of wonderment last,
Is the desire for giving up old habits
Lovers might have initially disguised
Or deceived themselves into believing they'd jettisoned
As sacrifices to an incipient relationship
And for recommitting the heart's allegiance
To another human life,
Just as we've done, my affectionate lady,
Watching candles you lit,
Their tips flickering the fragrances of our lovemaking,
Change mystically into paper-whites
Illuminating the bedroom with our blooms.
Transfigurations such as this
Come once a lifetime, night after night,
To those who, seeing beyond their noses,
Breathe through their eyes.
