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Take Heart: A Conversation in Poetry: Peonies
Edited and introduced by Wesley McNair, Maine Poet Laureate
This week the late Robert Siegel of South Berwick takes us into the universe of peonies.
Peonies by Robert Siegel
In June these globes of white flame swell, explosions so very slow, we see in them absolute fire at the center, stasis of star’s core,or a fragile moonglow distilled ghostly in each alembic. From their green ambush these unearthly aliens assault us with colorfor a week then gradually fade into another dimension. As Dante saw the stars in a glass, a corolla of souls, each reflectingthe other's light and charity, so in these low white spheres we contemplate mirroring heavens, petals, tongues stammering silent music from one root of fire.
Take Heart: A Conversation in Poetry is produced in collaboration with the Maine Writers & Publishers Alliance. Poem copyright © 2006 Robert Siegel. Reprinted from Pentecost of Finches: New and Selected Poems, Paraclete Press, 2006, by permission of Robert Siegel. Questions about Take Heart, which is no longer accepting submissions, may be directed to Gibson Fay-LeBlanc, Special Consultant to the Maine Poet Laureate, at mainepoetlaureate@gmail.com or 207-228-8263. Take Heart: Poems from Maine, an anthology collecting the first two years of this column, is now available from Down East Books.