detail: artwork: marc chagall
EVA'S
PUSSY WILLOWS
by Ronald Baatz
The empty
Lancers wine bottle,
product of Portugal
serve chilled, has
pussy willows in it now,
standing in the sun,
Sunday morning.
I guess Eva put them there
so I'd see them
when I woke.
Surprising
how such a thin creature,
exposed to all the
deteriorative elements of
nature and the chaotic
nature of man,
can blossom such
round silk beauty.
So beautiful,
and so thoughtful
too as to
leave pussy willows
in the empty wine bottle
next to my bed.
~ first published in Kansas Quarterly (1972)
