“my father, as yours, deep in the pit, my mother silent as plums . . . “

(as Ezra Pound’s adaptation, from the Chinese,
of Li Po’s “The River-Merchant’s Wife, A Letter”)
“Southern women have alabaster skin.” —Li Po

We were from the same town, Cowen,
along the Gauley, Webster
County—church, twice of Sunday,
Wednesday evening prayer meeting.