My American Harp
I follow neither Emily nor Walt
in how I tune my American Harp,
no pithy hymns about Eternity,
nor rambling yawps that celebrate Myself.
I follow one who sailed through swirling storm
from ancient Isle of Mist where Brigit sang,
and dwelled in haunted Massachusetts hills
to wander, scribbling verse, in Salem woods.
I follow Tenth Muse, American sprung,
from England on Arabella ship borne,
who tuned her harp and pitched her voice to ring
and harmonize Elizabethan airs.
From Mistress Anne Bradstreet I long descend
through thirteen generations born again
who traveled west three hundred thirty years
till I was born far west in Oregon.
I tune my harp to sweet Arcadian rhymes
and dance with Sir Philip Sidney and faes,
our cousin descended from Oberon,
though melodies discord with radios.
I join my cousins from Dudley blood born,
Edwin Robinson, Oliver Wendell Holmes,
Robert Lowell, and Tennessee Williams,
singing drama of our American Dream.
(2013)
