Scorpion Moon and Lost Savannas: Two Books of Poems

By Steven Louis Meeker

Scorpion Moon and Lost Savannas, subtitled Two Books of Poems
are selections of poems written by Steven Meeker between 1972
and 2000. Many of the earlier poems refl ect the experience of
growing up, off and on, in rural South West Ohio. Some of the
later poems perhaps represent efforts to express observation of
ordinary things which are sometimes found to be somewhat
more than ordinary.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: May 18, 2007
• ISBN: 9781465320933

Steven Louis Meeker

Steven Meeker was born 10 June 1951 in New Orleans, Louisiana. Meeker earned an A.B. at Ohio University in 1973. He earned a M.F.A in English a the University of Iowa in 1978 were he taught sophomore literature in the regular English Department. He was teaching fellow in a doctoral program at the University of Utah from 1979 to 1981. Meeker suffered from an undiagnosed life-threatening sleep disorder, which contributed to incapacitating him in the early 1980’s. The condition was diagnosed and treated in late 1987. Meeker lives in Ohio.

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Copyright © 2007 by Steven Louis Meeker.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

This book was printed in the United States of America.

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Contents

BIOGRAPHY

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

SCORPION MOON

VICTROLA SOLOS

LINEMAN

VOICES

UNTIL HE FEELS

HE’S EVENED SCORE

THE TURTLE

HANGMAN

PSYCHE’S REPOSE

APNEA

MIND WITHOUT

REASON

SCORPION MOON

AFTER THE DEAD

OF AN ECLIPSE

THE WOLF

ALLEGATION OF

COMPLIANCE

SIGN AND COUNTERSIGN

A MAN OF INACTION

ADVISES

VIRGIN 8

AT THE INTAKE

NATAL THUNDER

POACHING

LIKE A YOUNG IDA LUPINO,

MINE (OR SO I WISH)

MEMO TO MYSELF

GOING OUTSIDE

LOOKING INTO THE PAST

ONE-ARMED NIGHT WATCHMAN

IMMERSIONS

THE SPIRIT SUMMONS

ALL THAT IS SURMOUNTED

WALTZ OF THE

COY DOLPHIN

AESTUARIES

SURVIVAL SCHOOL

TRAVELING WEST

THE DIFFERENCE

BETWEEN Y AND X

TRANSFIGURATION

IN TYPE

PERIMETERS

DON’T THEY SPEAK

FRENCH IN HELL?

HIGH WATER

THE LOVELY SLIVER OF

SILVER THAT IS THE MOON

SUN

LIKE STIGMATA

AFTER RAIN

MIRACLES

VIEW FROM THE

HIGHLAND ENVOI

EVENTIDE

MELONS

THE CRISIS IN MUSIC APPRECIATION

ILLINOIS

THE FISH EATER

SECOND FLOOR

BOARDER

SANCTUARY

ASTRONOMY

THE NEVER WERE LOVERS

DO NOT REUNITE

REPUBLIC

SLEEP

DICK MELON

THE WAITINGIRL

STATIONS OF THE CROSS

RELATIVE PERSPECTIVE

IN THE CAR BESIDE MINE,

YOUNG WOMEN LAUGH

AND SMILE

A TYPICAL FRENCH DAY

PERSONIFICATION

OF FINAL ECLIPSE

STROKE SONATA:

A CRAZY WOMAN

BROKE INTO MY ROOM

AS OF A BEAM OF LIGHT IN

A FORBIDDEN MIRROR HUNG IN AN IMAGINARY ROOM

LIGHT BEAM IN UNKNOWN MIROR IN UNKNOWN

ROOM, 2

REPRISE OF THE GUN

MY IMAGE DOES NOT

TEST THE SUN

SAINT

VISION TREE

TRUTH

DEATH MOVES IN A

PECULIAR GROOVE

THE NIGHT IS SWEET,

THE DARKNESS VAST

I’VE SEEN LIFE ENOUGH

TO LEARN FEAR OF IT

(DREAM GIRL)

RECALL IS EXPRESSION OF ANOTHER SELF

SAINT ANDREW’S CROSS

LOST SAVANNAS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

A DREAM OF INDIANA

LOST SAVANNAS

DESDEMONA OF

DES MOINES

VIOLET

DISPLACEMENT ZERO

VISIT WITH MY

BABYSITTER

ANTIPHON OF

THE FISH

SAINT MARY AND

THE DICTIONARY

AGAINST A HUNTER’S

MOON

HE WHO SEARCHES

AS YOU TRANSFORM

BEFORE MY EYES

THE MOUSE HOLE

PLUGGER

IN SUNLIGHT THERE,

A SPIRIT BEING SELECTED

BLACK CHERRY FOREST 2

TO BUILD THE PATTERN SOLID COMMON BOND

DISGUISE IS THE APPAREL

OF THE MIND

BOBCAT LAKE

SLEEP APNEA

HYPOXIA

TOP DEAD CENTER

LIFE BY THIRDS

TIME AND VARIATION

TEN WAYS OF LOOKING

AT A DOUGHNUT

EMERGING FROM

ILLNESS

ETUDE

SUNSET

THE TOURIST PANICS

ATTIC CHILD

THE TALKING HOGS

LOOKING AT MILLAIS’ OPHELIA

MAGIC THAT

SHOWS TRUE

MACHINE

BLOND ELVIS

VETERANS

DESTINY SUMMONS US

ONCE MORE TO THE PLAINS OF EUROPE

SURFACES

ANOTHER ON THE

THEME OF MASKS

ELMO HARDY

PRELUDE TO

HUNTER’S MOON

VIRGIN WITHOUT

CHILD

DELIRIUM

YOU COULD HAVE BEEN

ANYTHING YOU DREAMED

SMILE, OR, JOY OF

PLUMBING

GREY ELEPHANT

WAY OF THE WALRUS

STAGES TOWARD

RETURN

HE WHO IS MYSELF

I AM HE

NIGHT ZERO

THE WOMAN IN THE

WOLF’S HEAD MASK

1966

AMERICAN PARANOID

HUNTER

THE LUNAR FITS

WHITE RECKONING

THE WESTERN IDEA

OF THE INDIVIDUAL

THE JUNGLE INN

THE UNIVERSAL BOX

MOLOKAI SUNSET

This book is dedicated in memory of

my mother Florel Rowley Meeker, 1924-2005

Author’s note: In the text of my poems, sometimes I have written he instead of I or, more often, I write or I have written you instead of I so that poems which might be erroneously considered to be addressed to another person are actually monologues or self-dialogues. And although I hope readers of these poems enjoy them and interpret them as they think, the poems are fiction with line breaks.

Biography

Steven Meeker was born 10 June 1951 in New Orleans, Louisiana. Meeker earned an A.B. at Ohio University in 1973 and a M.F.A. in English at the University of Iowa in 1978. He taught sophmore literature at Iowa when he was a graduate student there and taught as a Teaching Fellow at the University of Utah from '79-'81. Meeker lives in Ohio.

Acknowledgements

Poaching, Iowa/American; One-Armed Night Watchman, Crazyhorse, Immersions (published as Baptising, Willmore City; The Young Butcher of Pittsburg Landing, Crazyhorse; Lineman, Crazyhorse; Sleep, Sphere; Dick Melon, Sphere; The Waitingirl, Athens; The Fish Eater, Sphere, Seneca Review.

Scorpion Moon

Victrola Solos

The banished birch is not brandished

in the red-brown haze.

You think you feel the