Catherine Chandler's Poetry Blog

Wednesday, April 3, 2013

Day 4, National Poetry Month: Red






In honor of my favorite color, here are two poems for Day 4, National Poetry Month:.

What Do Women Want? by Kim Addonizio  (includes audio recording)

and

The Red Beads by Catherine Chandler (first published in FIrst Things, February 2013)


The Red Beads: 
At the Maldonado Flea Market, Uruguay

Among the pipes and pulleys, sacks and seeds,
there is a necklace made of crimson beads.
Great care was taken that it catch the eye
of plain-clad fernandinas passing by
the Sunday market stalls and sundry shops
where needs and wants diverge. A woman stops.

She holds the necklace to her collar, asks
the price, then gently puts it down and masks
her disappointment with a repartee —
Demasiado lindo para mí.
Too nice. Yet, homeward-bound, she’ll look again
and hope no one has bought it.
Now and then,
a thing of beauty must be bargained for,
though all it graces is a dresser drawer.






 





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