Elizabeth Spencer Spragins
Once
(A Rhupunt)
A peacock struts
Through weeds and ruts
Where field abuts
An old estate
On weary land.
The foyer and
The stairs, once grand,
Have sagged with weight
Of barren years.
Dark dust adheres
To chandeliers
Of tarnished plate.
Once home, once inn,
Now willed to kin
Who've never been
Beyond the gate,
This manse decays.
The keeper grays,
And yet she stays
To tend the grate
At evenfall.
An eerie call
Dissolves the pall;
Cries resonate
When daylight dies.
Bejeweled eyes
Fan sun-burned skies
And undulate
With stately pace.
Rich plumes begrace,
Enchant this place—
Once more ornate.
Atonement
(A Clogyrnach)
This boxwood maze is overgrown.
No footsteps follow paths of stone.
The fountain, though dry,
Hums a lullaby—
A sea sigh
Without tone.
An angel lies in disrepair
Among the broken sculptures there.
Rust latches the gate,
But none desecrate
This estate
With no heir.
A brick walk laid in herringbone
Leads to a site where spirits moan.
A cracked marble cross,
Sun-bleached, free of moss,
Marks the loss
Heartbeats hone.
A daughter lies within the grave.
A dagger took the life God gave.
She dared love a man
With no name or clan—
African,
Once a slave.
Too late, her father felt remorse
And prayed her blood reverse its course.
He clutched at her hair,
Cried out in despair—
But her stare
Lost life force.
He spent his fortune on her tomb
And graced the grave with wild Scotch broom.*
He gardened alone,
And from the seeds sown
Nothing's grown—
Not one bloom.
* This flowering plant has been used as a heraldic badge and royal emblem by the English House of Plantagenet.
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| AUTHOR BIO |
| Elizabeth Spencer Spragins is a fiber artist, writer, poet, and editor who taught in community colleges for more than a decade. Her tanka and bardic verse in the Celtic style have been published in England, Scotland, Canada, Indonesia, and the United States. Recent work has appeared in the Quarterday Review, the Lyric, Glass: Facets of Poetry, Halcyon Days, and Peacock Journal. Her chapbook Shades and Shadows is scheduled for publication by Quarterday Press in fall 2017. Updates are available on her website. |
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| POETRY CONTRIBUTORS |
 Jane Blanchard
Lesley Clinton
Maryann Corbett
Barbara Lydecker Crane
Barbara Crooker
Midge Goldberg (Featured Poet)
Grace Marie Grafton
Jaimee Hills
Kathryn Hinds
Kathryn Jacobs
Jean L. Kreiling
Charlotte Mandel
Jennifer Davis Michael
Angela Alaimo O'Donnell
Leslie Schultz
Elizabeth Spencer Spragins
Marilyn Taylor
Cara Valle
Doris Watts
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The most recent addition to The Mezzo Cammin Women Poets Timeline is Etel Adnan by Joyce Wilson.
Save the date: A Celebration of the Timeline reaching 75 essays. Lincoln Center, Fordham University (Sponsored by Fordham's Curran Center) Friday, October 20th, 7 p.m.
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