Author: Louise Gluck

To say I’m without fear It wouldn’t be true. I’m afraid of sickness, humiliation. Like anyone, I have my dreams. […]

Little soul, little perpetually undressed one, Do now as I bid you, climb The shelf-like branches of the spruce tree; […]

There is always something to be made of pain. Your mother knits. She turns out scarves in every shade of […]

In the story of Patroclus No one survives, not even Achilles Who was nearly a god. Patroclus resembled him; they […]

My mother’s an expert in one thing: Sending people she loves into the other world. The little ones, the babies […]

Don’t listen to me; my heart’s been broken. I don’t see anything objectively. I know myself; I’ve learned to hear […]

Love of my life, you Are lost and I am Young again. A few years pass. The air fills With […]

In the end, I made myself Known to your wife as A god would, in her own house, in Ithaca, […]

Orange blossoms blowing over Castile Children begging for coins I met my love under an orange tree Or was it […]

No one’s despair is like my despair You have no place in this garden Thinking such things, producing The tiresome […]

The great man turns his back on the island. Now he will not die in paradise Nor hear again The […]

In the early evening, a now, as man is bending Over his writing table. Slowly he lifts his head; a […]

You want to know how I spend my time? I walk the front lawn, pretending To be weeding. You ought […]

A child draws the outline of a body. She draws what she can, but it is white all through, She […]

There was an apple tree in the yard This would have been Forty years ago behind, Only meadows. Drifts Of […]

Remember that time you made the wish? I make a lot of wishes. The time I lied to you About […]

Now, in twilight, on the palace steps The king asks forgiveness of his lady. He is not Duplicitous; he has […]

A dove lived in a village. When it opened its mouth Sweetness came out, sound Like a silver light around […]

My mother’s playing cards with my aunt, Spite and Malice, the family pastime, the game My grandmother taught all her […]

I became a criminal when I fell in love. Before that I was a waitress. I didn’t want to go […]