1.
Anna believed.
Couldn’t delay.
Every Friday
grew heroic
infidelity just
knowing love
might never
otherwise present
queenly resplendent
satisfaction trapped
under Vronsky’s
wild x-rated
young zap.
2.
Afraid. Betrayed.
Can’t divorce.
Envy follows
grim heroine,
inks judgment,
kills lust.
Mercy nowhere.
Opulent pink
quintessence radiates
suicide trip –
unique vacation –
worst Xmas,
yesterday’s zero.
-- David Lehman
from New and Selected Poems by David Lehman (Scribner, 2013). Photo: Vivien Leigh as Anna Karenina (1947)
Note: All posts by David Lehman are copyright (c) 2024 by David Lehman. All rights reserved.
DL does it again, though maybe his first double abecedarian.
Posted by: David Schloss | May 04, 2024 at 08:48 AM
Who needs Tolstoy?!!!
Posted by: Mark C. Minton | May 04, 2024 at 09:55 PM