THREE POEMS ABOUT ISLANDS PROSPERA for April Ford on her 80th birthday Beyond our tempest of dreams undone, Our hopes confused and vaporal, You reveal the island of Eighty-One Where the season is continuous April. PROSPERO'S CIRCLE for Fonda Joyce's birthday "I'll carve out a space where it's safe to grow. And I know just how to start it: Place a wildcat at the temple door With a heart big enough to guard it." ISLAND For Aldous Huxley Islands bleed from every shore. Every element that moves faster bites At the leaky margins of what seems whole And steady - the Mother Earth; the soul's Intimacy; shared love, tremble in the light Of Shiva Dancing, saying "Fear no more." Joe Wrobel |