Burning Woman (for Jan Bowman)
Sig Schwarz
Abiding with zen mind
You nurtured a ferocious garden
Of soul food images and words,
This hybrid of Monet and Dali,
Of Mary Shelley and Audre Lorde
And, oh yes, George Herbert and Jane Austen too . . .
What indeed were you thinking, girlfriend,
Stealing such necessary fire, inordinate paradox,
Yet again from the heavens
For us
For you
So that we might see this apparent wasteland
For the first time really
Even as against all odds our inner landscapes
Yours and ours
Continue to green and grow
In your illuminations?
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