Lee Upton
3 poems
**
The Last Adventures of Robin Hood
After the arrow was plucked
from his heart, his blood poured
until he strung the bow
only he could string.
The islands of forests drifted to the continent.
He was as good as camouflage.
When it drizzled
he drank mead with a virgin
caught on his sleeve.
He gave to the poor.
The poor gave him to us.
**
“Today is the Anniversary of Today”
And tomorrow is the anniversary of tomorrow,
and yesterday is the anniversary of
the steam engine marrying
rural electrification
and Genghis Khan learning to toddle on a horse.
History is ideas and consequences.
Someone humiliates himself.
Someone makes a miracle shove maggots into her mouth.
**
The Death of the Reader
Courteously, long ago, God died,
and then, of course,
it wasn’t long before
the reader collapsed.
Who was left to mourn?
The author, dead
longer than anyone cared,
would have liked to say,
You made me what I am today.
**
return to sawbuck 2.2
**
Lee Upton's fifth book of poems, Undid in the Land of Undone, appeared in November from New Issues Press. Her poems have been published in American Poetry Review, the Atlantic, the New Republic, Poetry, and other journals. Her fiction appears widely.
**
The Last Adventures of Robin Hood
After the arrow was plucked
from his heart, his blood poured
until he strung the bow
only he could string.
The islands of forests drifted to the continent.
He was as good as camouflage.
When it drizzled
he drank mead with a virgin
caught on his sleeve.
He gave to the poor.
The poor gave him to us.
**
“Today is the Anniversary of Today”
And tomorrow is the anniversary of tomorrow,
and yesterday is the anniversary of
the steam engine marrying
rural electrification
and Genghis Khan learning to toddle on a horse.
History is ideas and consequences.
Someone humiliates himself.
Someone makes a miracle shove maggots into her mouth.
**
The Death of the Reader
Courteously, long ago, God died,
and then, of course,
it wasn’t long before
the reader collapsed.
Who was left to mourn?
The author, dead
longer than anyone cared,
would have liked to say,
You made me what I am today.
**
return to sawbuck 2.2
**
Lee Upton's fifth book of poems, Undid in the Land of Undone, appeared in November from New Issues Press. Her poems have been published in American Poetry Review, the Atlantic, the New Republic, Poetry, and other journals. Her fiction appears widely.
