Poems

Here are two poems by Lisa Raphals: The second one has a "next" button at the bottom, which you should click on.

Here is a poem by Li Bai, also known as Li Po, translated by Lisa Raphals:

Also, here is a PDF file of Lisa Raphals' book of poems published by North and South press in 1994:

Here's a sample:

ORPHEUS

The Maenads got him and his music too.
We found his smile hanging from a pine
fingers there like amanita buds
under the needleway, and stars.
No branch could match the edge of his brow
his hair blacker than the sky,
eyes deeper, reflecting no light.

We found his smile.
Then the wind began,
first with pre-dawn light, the curl-ends
of his music
waiting in the hemlocks
in that place
before day could intervene.



© 2004 Lisa Raphals

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