New Poems

By Steven P. Klepeis

New Poems, this author's third and most recent work, starts by taking you along on a month full of the daily activities, adventures, difficulties, and observations arising directly from hard country living ("December"), one poem for each day, just for openers. "Ravens," the next series of sixteen poems, takes you deeply into a metaphysical world of fascinating mythical and religious associations and meanings of ravens in cultural history and scripture around the world. This is followed by "The Planets," a beautiful little collection of seven poems, with each planet addressed individually and sensitively through its classical themes.

That much would normally more than fill other contemporary books of poetry, but this author has much more here. Although the author was thirteen years old when Theodore Roethke passed away, "In Respect of Theodore Roethke" presents nine poems which, on their own, probe some of the dark and difficult places of existence where Roethke struggled. Finally, "Various" gives us ten poems that are not aligned topically and that give us the poet's informality and humor.

Throughout all the reader will encounter here, they will find a mastery of sound and structure, strength and grace, sending, ultimately, a plea of love into the world.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Resource Publications
• Release date: Apr 12, 2023
• ISBN: 9781666773910

Steven P. Klepeis

Steven P. Klepeis (b. 11/12/50) grew up in upstate New York and holds an M.A.T. from SUNY, New Paltz, NY (1982.) After working many years in Risk Management in New York and Louisiana, he followed a job to New Mexico in 2016 where he currently resides. He started writing poetry seriously in the early 1970's and has published Brooklyn and After and Poems 1973-1987 (Fulton Books, 2021,) and Eighty-One Plus One (Lincoln Writes, 2022.) He wrote New Poems, his third book over 2021-22. His fourth book, El Rio, is as yet an unpublished collection of physical and spiritual adventures while fishing and exploring various rivers, creeks and streams in the Northern, Southern and Western U.S. He is currently working on a book length lyric narrative of the 1680 Pueblo Revolt and a new collection entitle simply Love.

Book preview

New Poems

Steven P. Klepeis

NEW POEMS

Copyright ©

2023

Steven P. Klepeis. All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in critical publications or reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without prior written permission from the publisher. Write: Permissions, Wipf and Stock Publishers,

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Resource Publications

An Imprint of Wipf and Stock Publishers

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paperback isbn: 978-1-6667-7389-7

hardcover isbn: 978-1-6667-7390-3

ebook isbn: 978-1-6667-7391-0

03/20/20

Table of Contents

TITLE PAGE

DECEMBER

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

26

27

28

29

30

31

RAVENS

RAVEN

HRAFNA

NOAH’S RAVEN

ELIJAH’S RAVENS

VINCENT’S RAVENS

THE TOWER’S RAVENS

CAIN’S RAVEN

APOLLO’S RAVEN

VAN GOGH’S RAVENS

HAIDA

BAYAK

TULUKARUQ

YATAGARASU

YANGWU

DEEP LEARNING

I

II

III

SPRING RAVENS

THE PLANETS

NEPTUNE

SATURN

JUPITER

MARS

EARTH

VENUS

MERCURY

IN RESPECT OF THEODORE ROETHKE

ROETHKE

I WENT DOWN TO THE BEACH

ENLIGHTENMENT

ONE IS ONE

THE CISTERN

CROSSING THE FIELD

WHEN THE LEAVES ARE ALL GONE

CONFESSIONAL

IMPLETIONEM INANIS

VARIOUS

A MEMORY OF HUGHES

REQUIESCAT

BIRTHDAY NOTE

THE WREATH

CLOSE STRANGERS

PANTHER

RABBIT ROAD

NIÑAS DE LA TIERRA

A NEW BESTIARY

I

II

III

IV

V

THE WORDS

DECEMBER

1

Just after dusk

on the first day of the month

ending the year,

Mars appears,

raising in his right

hand the Aquila and

trailing in his left

the sheaf from Ceres.

And we, declining

in love and health

through too many wars,

can see only the light

that will suffuse in spring

wheat, the light

of the long and short sun

that has carried us here.

2

Jupiter, December

sky father, lightning,

eagle and the oak,

you will die, gratefully,

before your children,

in the frost wind,

in the dead of night,

asking from a hospital bed

a window be opened.

And your storms, and your

valor and your strength

will ignite winter fire

in the love of earth.

And the fertile spirit of love

that arises in memories

will go out in spring dawns

to farm the heart’s soil

and provoke the gentle seeds

to germinate

rebirth.

3

The frost bites

fingertips and toes

sharper on the dark

nights of December.

And a mulled wine

numbs, then cuts

into the dry, cold

tissue of the throat.

Cutting and splitting

wood all day in the raw

wind, so late in the season,

racing the machines of winter.

Sweat, not just of

woolen heat, but of the

shortness of daylight over

the reach and slice of the saw.

4

Singing songs this

bright morning, the bells

that, reconditioned, cost

the Parish sixteen thousand