Ronnie McGinn's Poetry Page

It is not difficult to understand a poem if its degree of clarity fits the subject matter. But we should not expect the same amount of exactness from every poem as topics and talent do not always correspond. When they do, we usually get an exceptionally good poem.

Our poem this week is from Mary Kennan Herbert who teaches literature and writing courses at Long Island University in Brooklyn, NY.

Her poems have appeared in literary journals and other periodicals in over twenty different countries. Six collections of her poems have been published by Ginninderra Press in Australia, and one volume by Meadow Geese Press in the USA.

In 2005, one of her poems was awarded first prize by Stephen Dobyns in the first poetry competition sponsored by the Greenwich Village Orchestra in New York City.

CONFESSIONS OF A ST. LOUIS GIRL

My mother loved to gossip with Mr. and Mrs. Thomas
across the fence. They had a grape arbor. So did folks
beyond the Thomas house. It was good to grow grapes

in St. Louis, in those rows of Old World backyards,
where I could see fruits of knowledge just beyond us,
that I could survey on my way to school each day.

Their neat lawns were trimmed to await the robins' search
for lunch, or my own hungry conning tower as I looked
for plunder. I stole grapes and flowers and hours.

I wanted time, I pressed moments into my diary,
eavesdropped on the Thomases. Never doubting, they
chatted with my mother about the innocence of children.

© Mary Kennan Herbert