from Crossing State Lines [Shirtsleeved afternoons]
Shirtsleeved afternoons turn toward leather as the trees blush, scatter a last few bright, weary wisps across the great bruised heart of the South. The spirit cup drifts down the pond's moon-sparked highway. Far laughter, shadows. Love or poison? Your turn. Drink to the star-drenched latitudes!
Credit
Copyright © 2011 by Rita Dove. From Crossing State Lines, edited by Bob Holman and Carol Muske Dukes. Reprinted with the permission of Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
Author
Rita Dove
The author of numerous collections of poetry, Rita Dove served as the US Poet Laureate from 1993 to 1995 and as a Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets from 2005 to 2011.
Date Published
01/01/2011