Something sudden, a windfall,a meteor shower. No –a flowering tree releasingall its blossoms at once,and the one standing beneath itunexpectedly robed in bloom,transformed into a strangertoo beautiful to touch. – Lisel Mueller, “How I Would Paint Happiness,” Alive Together (Louisiana State Univ Pr; First Edition, December 1, 1996)
You shall not twist my bonesinto a star’s shape, nor plant my hairas roots for the dreams of the living;and if you open my heartand run your poet’s fingersover its walls and cushionsyou will find it is like yours,dark. — Lisel Mueller; “Noli Me Tangere,” Dependencies: Poems. (LSU Press March 1, 1998)
“Sometimes, When the Light” Sometimes, when the light strikes at odd anglesand pulls you back into childhood and you are passing a crumbling mansioncompletely hidden behind old willows or an empty convent guarded by hemlocksand giant firs standing hip to hip, you know again that behind that wall,under the uncut hair of the willows something… Continue reading Lisel Mueller
…as if to say, the lives we live before the present moment are graves we walk away from. — Lisel Mueller, from “Place and Time,” Alive Together: New and Collected Poems (Louisiana State University Press, 1996)
Why We Tell Stories IBecause we used to have leavesand on damp daysour muscles feel a tug,painful now, from when rootspulled us into the ground and because our children believethey can fly, an instinct retainedfrom when the bones in our armswere shaped like zithers and brokeneatly under their feathers and because before we had lungswe… Continue reading Lisel Mueller
How swiftly the strained honey of afternoon light flows into darkness and the closed bud shrugs off its special mystery in order to break into blossom: as if what exists, exists so that it can be lost and become precious — Lisel Mueller, “In Passing,” Alive Together (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1996).
2. How I would Paint Happiness Something sudden, a windfall, a meteor shower. No – a flowering tree releasing all its blossoms at once, and the one standing beneath it unexpectedly robed in bloom, transformed into a stranger to beautiful to touch. — Lisel Mueller, from ” Imaginary Paintings,” Alive Together: New and Selected Poems. (LSU… Continue reading Lisel Mueller
Even now, when the plot calls for me to turn to stone, the sun intervenes. Some mornings in summer, I step outside and the sky opens and pours itself into me as if I were a saint about to die. But the plot calls for me to live, be ordinary, say nothing to anyone. Inside… Continue reading Lisel Mueller
Moon Fishing When the moon was full they came to the water. some with pitchforks, some with rakes, some with sieves and ladles, and one with a silver cup. And they fished til a traveler passed them and said, “Fools, to catch the moon you must let your women spread their hair on the water… Continue reading Lisel Mueller
Monet Refuses the Operation Doctor, you say that there are no halos around the streetlights in Paris and what I see is an aberration caused by old age, an affliction. I tell you it has taken me all my life to arrive at the vision of gas lamps as angels, to soften and blur and… Continue reading Lisel Mueller
The Vale of Soul-Making 