Please note that the poems and essays on this site are copyright and may not be reproduced without the author's permission.


Thursday 24 December 2009

Stevie Smith: Bog-Face


.

File:Zygocactus truncatus 01.JPG





Dear Little Bog-Face,
Why are you so cold?
And why do you lie with your eyes shut? --
You are not very old.

I am a Child of this World,
And a Child of Grace,
And Mother, I shall be glad when it is over,
I am Bog-Face.



File:Stevie Smith.jpg



Bog-Face: from The Collected Poems of Stevie Smith

Christmas cactus in bloom (Zygocactus truncatus): photo by Nayana Sondi, 2006
Florence Margaret ("Stevie") Smith: photo by Jorge Lewinski, 1966 (National Portrait Gallery, London)

3 comments:

Bob Arnold / Longhouse said...

Of course, Tom,

only you would think of
(Me, Again)
Stevie Smith for today!

And no bog-face with stunning
dripping Christmas cactus

When I leave milk & cookies tonight for Santa, I'll also be leaving this Stevie stood up at the milk glass

Elmo St. Rose said...

the fact that it's a poem
still accentuates the positive
you can see the glimmer dots
behind the bog face

tyger tyger burning bright
they say

TC said...

Prehistoric visage of alleged redeemer, dug up from peat bog -- frigid manger, mistaken identity -- blinks and says, Who me?