M.S. Rooney – Three Poems


 

When I went

too close to the marrow,
too far from the blood,
you brought me
this grinning antique
dome-headed netsuke
god of long life.

(Where is the kimono
he fastened?)

Do you know
how beautiful you are?



First Morning Light

 

Have we ever
not known
this first
shapely morning light?
When we run our fingers
through the curves
of its satin shadows,
we are warmed.



Your song split

 

my bone chest,
brought light
and a ripe red rose
unable
not to open
to bloom.


 

Author’s Statement on Beauty

It seems we meet beauty not by definition but by experience – an openness, a willingness to be taken by surprise.


 

M.S. Rooney lives in Sonoma, California with her husband, poet Dan Noreen. Her work appears in journals, including Bluestem, The Cortland Review, and Illuminations, Route 7 and anthologies, including American Society: What Poets See, edited by David Chorlton and Robert S. King (FutureCycle Press).