Castles and Tents
Poems
by
Book Cover & Preview Text
LETTERS LIKE LETTUCE GONE SOGGY WITH PAIN
Holding in my hand a cache
of old letters which resonate
with pain,
One realizes that each life
is a slippery vessel which glides
through pain until it reaches
some shore.
At which time tents are erected,
sometimes castles,
and for some moments, all is fine.
Old letters remind one
that life will have its way,
neither your castle nor your tent
are sufficient to protect you,
Only love has a chance,
only love, which you've so
often thrown away
in hopes of something
more substantial,
Like a castle or a tent,
something substantial
to stand between you
and the inevitable pain
of love, of life, of existence.
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Book Details
About the Book
In 2001, poet Anselm Hollo wrote, “With humor, tenderness, and surprising candor, Roxie Powell ventures into rarely visited territory to an ever-questioning mind.” In his newest collection, Roxie keeps questioning, this time considering the connection between love and pain—and how one can rarely exist without the other.
Letters Like Lettuce Gone Soggy with Pain
One realizes that each life
is a slippery vessel which glides
through pain until it reaches
some shore.
At which time tents are erected,
sometimes castles,
and for some moments, all is fine.
Old letters remind one
that life will have its way,
neither your castle nor your tent
are sufficient to protect you,
Only love has a chance.
This book pulls together a wide variety of Powell’s poetry, the majority of which has never been published before. Most were written over the past twenty-five years, with the exception of a handful, which were written this year, such as “Kansas Soliloquy” and “Turkestan.” For Powell, the journey of life is illuminated by love, and emotional pain is native to the process.
About the Author
Roxie Grant Powell was born in western Kansas during the Dust Bowl. He grew up in the high Sangre de Christo Mountains of Southern Colorado. He earned his MA at Johns Hopkins University and eventually taught at Coppin State College in Baltimore, Maryland. Auerhahn Press of San Francisco first published his poetry in 1963.