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Representative Poetry Online, edition 6.0, is a web anthology of 4,800 poems in English and French by over 700 poets spanning 1400 years.  more about RPO

 

 

 

 

Insect

Finch, Annie (1956 - )
1That hour-glass-backed,
2orchard-legged,
3heavy-headed will,
4paper-folded,
5wedge-contorted,
6savage -- dense to kill --
7pulls back on backward -- moving,
8arching
9high legs still,
10lowered through a deep, knees-reaching,
11feathered down
12green will,
13antenna-honest,
14thread-descending,
15carpeted as if with skill,
16a focus-changing,
17sober-reaching,
18tracing, killing will.
 What thou lovest well remains,
                  the rest is dross
What thou lov'st well shall not be reft from thee
What thou lov'st well is thy true heritage
Whose world, or mine or theirs
                or is it of none?
First came the seen, then thus the palpable
    Elysium, though it were in the halls of hell,
What thou lovest well is thy true heritage
What thou lov'st well shall not be reft from thee
Ezra Pound Pisan Cantos, LXXXI
Maps