the world too beautiful this year

God's World

by Edna St. Vincent Millay

O world, I cannot hold thee close enough!
Thy winds, thy wide grey skies!
Thy mists that roll and rise!
Thy woods, this autumn day, that ache and sag
And all but cry with colour! That gaunt crag
To crush! To lift the lean of that black bluff!
World, World, I cannot get thee close enough!
Long have I known a glory in it all,
But never knew I this;
Here such a passion is
As stretcheth me apart. Lord, I do fear
Thou'st made the world too beautiful this year.
My soul is all but out of me, let fall
No burning leaf; prithee, let no bird call.

The where, when & why of Edna's kissing

"What lips my lips have kissed, and where, and why"
by Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892-1950)

What lips my lips have kissed, and where, and why,
I have forgotten, and what arms have lain
Under my head till morning; but the rain
Is full of ghosts tonight, that tap and sigh
Upon the glass and listen for reply,
And in my heart there stirs a quiet pain
For unremembered lads that not again
Will turn to me at midnight with a cry.
Thus in the winter stands the lonely tree,
Nor knows what birds have vanished one by one,
Yet knows its boughs more silent than before:
I cannot say what loves have come and gone,
I only know that summer sang in me
A little while, that in me sings no more.

"And she will never be all mine"

Witch-Wife
by Edna St. Vincent Millay

She is neither pink nor pale,
And she never will be all mine;
She learned her hands in a fairy-tale,
And her mouth on a valentine.

She has more hair than she needs;
In the sun 'tis a woe to me!
And her voice is a string of colored beads,
Or steps leading into the sea.

She loves me all that she can,
And her ways to my ways resign;
But she was not made for any man,
And she never will be all mine.

Free Verse Poetry Project

Check out these stunning entries to the Free Verse Poetry Project! (I only wish they had published the artist's names. Maybe they will soon. All photos below by the artists, by the way, not me. They deserve a lot of credit for these creative images.) Click on the link in the verse to go to that entry's FVPP page. Enjoy!

From "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" by T. S. Eliot:

I have measured out my life with coffee spoons...

From "Spring" by Edna St. Vincent Millay:

April comes like an idiot, babbling and strewing flowers...

From "The Red Wheelbarrow" by William Carlos Williams:

so much depends
upon

a red wheel
barrow...

For more images from the contest, click here.

April comes like an idiot, babbling and strewing flowers.

Spring
by Edna St. Vincent Millay

To what purpose, April, do you return again?
Beauty is not enough.
You can no longer quiet me with the redress of little leaves opening stickily.
I know what I know.
The Sun is hot on my neck as I observe
The spikes of the crocus.
The smell of the earth is good.
It is apparent that there is no death.
But what does that signify?
Not only under ground are the brains of men
Eaten by maggots.

Life in itself
Is nothing
An empty cup, a flight of uncarpeted stairs,
It is not enough that yearly, down this hill,
April
Comes like an idiot, babbling and strewing flowers.

The Hardy Garden

The Hardy Garden

Now let forever the phlox and the rose be tended
Here where the rain has darkened and the sun has dried
So many times the terrace, yet is love unended,
Love has not died.

--Edna St. Vincent Millay

Millay at Steepletop Poetry Workshop

The first public readings of new poems developed
at the

Millay at Steepletop Poetry Workshop

James S. Lonergan (Kingston, NY)

Derek Mong (Williamstown, MA)

J. Daniel Beaudry (New Lebanon, NY)

Terry Trask (S. Egremont, MA)

Heather M. Moore Niver (Valatie, NY)

J. Peter Bergman (Pittsfield, MA)

Carol Derfner (Kinderhook, NY)

New poetry developed in the Workshop

and other pieces by these seven poets from around the region and across the border

will be presented at

...

The Thaddeus Clapp House

74 Wendell Avenue

Pittsfield, MA

at 4PM

Sunday, June 1

FREE ADMISSION

REFRESHMENTS

The Spencertown Academy

790 Route 203

Spencertown, NY

at 7PM

Friday, June 6

FREE ADMISSION

REFRESHMENTS

For information or directions call the Edna St. Vincent Millay Society

at 518-392-EDNA (3362)