Odes & Ends
Twin tributes to historic females
Enjoying Book of Ages (by J. Lepore) so much that I wrote a poem in Jane’s handwriting:
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Benjamin gave his sister a “Lady’s Library” which is little more than a collection of moral essays. Jane was constantly challenging his belief in works without faith in Christ’s atoning blood.
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Jane’s friend, Patience Lovell Wright, was a Quaker born in 1725.
She was instrumental in smuggling information to the colonies. America’s first sculptor!
I’ll throw in a poem for her, too, for good measure…
The Cooper’s Widow
“Wisdom, Valor and Good Council”
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John had nine sisters:
Deborah and Rosine,
Anne, Sarah, Martha and Mary,
Elizabeth— and the other two
Crazy ones
Who made babies:
Dough dolls out of
Wet flour
*
No whale’s rights,
Wells and Wright
Writ in waxen likeness
Forms and figures of
Crystallized blubber
Slick and smooth,
Flakes of pearly white
*
Oh Lovely Lovell of
Oyster Bay, your fire
Kissed everyone
On Queen’s street
And killed its king.
*
Pregnant and penniless,
Too poor for peas and sage,
Patiently
Rubbing under your apron
A soft face
Between two hot thighs
Giving birth to
Fullness
*
Buttery fingers
Slipping on sperm,
Letters in busts,
Delicate veins, buttons
Eyes made and
Unmade
By flame
*
Homesick for soil,
You melted into a giddy puddle
While the General waited for you;
He waited patiently
While you stomped up to Heaven
In those wooden shoes,
Eager
To meet your Muse!
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La Fin
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Hope you enjoyed!
