The Two Headed Horse: Verses of Loving and Living

By Phyllis Hudson

This is a selection of verses which I wrote during my lifetime from the age of 6 to 92.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: May 10, 2011
• ISBN: 9781456742317

Phyllis Hudson

Born and raised in Lake County, Ohio, I attended Ohio State University, winning the Vandewater Poetry Prize the first time it had been won by a sophomore. My professional career was in art conservation, with a studio on New Orleans until I retired in 2001.

Book preview

© 2011 Phyllis Hudson. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

First published by AuthorHouse 6/17/2011

ISBN: 978-1-4567-4232-4 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4567-4231-7 (e)

ISBN: 978-1-4567-4233-1 (sc)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2011902705

Printed in the United States of America

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Cover design by Phyllis Hudson

Contents

1 Childhood

At The Railroad Crossing

To Mrs. Harper’s ‘Buddy’

2 Adolescence

Storm In The Night

To Whom It May Concern

Open Window

3 Puppy Love

Equality? Never!

From Tinker Toys To Parlor Dates

Cynic

Dance

4 High School

Fill ‘Er Up

Atheist

Son Of Kamal

5 First Love

New Year

On Afternoons Just After Two

Insomnia By Moonlight

Reassurance

Wasted Talent

To Betty Fisher

Corsage Of Yellow Roses

My Love For You

The Gift

Success

Edna St.Vincent Millay

Classical Studies

6 Second Love

Coming To You

Your Love

Captive

September’s Gold

Observation

The Frown

If Slanting Rain …

Last Dawn

Choice

The Cure

Dirge

7 Married Love

Answer

Credo

El Ano Tercero

Traveling Light

Hall, Five-Thirty

Kitchen

Dining Room

Living Room

Controversial Fact

City Dump

Marietta, Ohio

Eleanore

Indian Giver

Discovery

8 Interval

The Two-Headed Horse

Autumn Campus, 1943

There Is A Deeper Significance

To Human Relations Than Logic

After An Interview

The New Lamp

Wardrobe Question

Afterward

Feminine Audit

9 True Love

Report

I Had This Phone Call, See,

From New York

Do You Suppose The Kitchen Needs Redecorating?

First Sonnet

Encounter

Time Study

Sex

Causeway Crossing

There Was Something About Philadelphia

Anniversary

Gulf Shores, Alabama

Pour Les Bon Temps

Bermuda

Twenty-Four Seven, Three Sixty-Five

Spring

Idolatry

Recapitulation

Lyric For Decade One

Sonnet For Decade Two

Here And There

The New York Trilogy

I February 1980

II May 1981

III November 2002

Sonnet For Decade Three

Reunion

Dream

Terminus

Mourner

Just A Video?

Since Then

10 The Wider World

Morning Workout

St. John’s Coffee House

The Matter Of Subject

Do Not Read Books On Writing

The Greening Of The Trees

Heavy Metal – A Sonnet

A Sonnet For Walker Percy

Looking Back

In The Hall

302059_Page_01.jpg

At The Railroad Crossing

The crossing bells ring loud

and clear,

Sign that a train is coming near.

The crossing watchman stands

on guard

To keep flivvers from bumping the trains too hard.

1924

[Age 6]

To Mrs. Harper’s ‘Buddy’

Buddy is no common cat,

He is a real aristocrat;

With little ears, and fluffy tail

And high, crescendo, squeaky wail.

His slanting, Oriental eyes

Are glimpses into paradise

Of yellowish-green translucent hue.

When he was a kitten they were blue.

He stalks about with regal air,

For handling he does not care.

He sleeps by day and prowls by night

And seldom, if ever, deigns to fight.

He’s far above the common clan

Of alleyway and old milk can,

His lovely head is held aloof

From other kittens and cats uncouth.

His fur is softest, silk grey

It’s combed and brushed ‘most every day

And usually when you brush his fur

He sometimes condescends to purr.

Oh Buddy is no common cat —

He is a real aristocrat.

1930

[age 12]

302059_Page_02.jpg

Storm In The Night

The night was wild and stormy

And the rain was soon to start,

But the wind and rain were nothing

To the tumult in my heart.

The moon had gone in hiding,

There was not a star in sight.

The blackness of my thoughts

Was like the blackness of the night.

The storm stampeded wildly,

Shrieking curses to the skies,

Which I echoed in a whisper

As I thought about your eyes.

How they looked at me with laughter,

Mocking, jesting, cruelly so,

When I offered up my heart to you

That night so long ago.

My dream was interrupted,

My reverie was crashed,

As across the sky a flaming streak

Of jagged lightning