Queen Anne Reflections
by Norbert Krapf
We were gathered in a Queen Anne house
moved along roads that wound through woods
to a site on an open hill surrounded by trees.
No walls on the main floor. Just exposed
two-by-fours with art hanging from studs
Tables with covers and fresh flowers set up
in café style. Pitch-in food in the basement.
Beer and wine brought along to share.
A pianist and I brought jazz and poetry
with a southern Indiana accent.
We all floated together free of gravity.
As I half sang, half-chanted, and recited
my poems, a young woman with long
curly hair seated almost within reach
looked and listened with the quiet
intensity of a plant sending out tendrils.
A white light radiated from within her.
She looked familiar and of the place,
but shone like a local mystery.
You could tell by the look in her eye
that she had something to give,
but not a gift that calls attention to itself.
She knew how to look and listen,
to absorb what she saw and heard.
It was clear that she was coming
into whatever powers would be hers.
Her vision and voice were growing.
Bio: Indiana Poet Laureate 2008-10, Norbert Krapf is the author of ten full-length poetry collections, the latest being American Dreams: Reveries and Reflections (2013) and Songs in Sepia and Black and White (2012). In April 2014 his Catholic Boy Blues: A Poet's Journal of Healing appeared. He has collaborated with jazz pianist Monika Herzig, with whom he released a CD, Imagine, and with bluesman Gordon Bonham. He has also collaborated with photographers Daryl Jones, David Pierini, and Richard Fields in books published by Indiana University Press.
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by Norbert Krapf
We were gathered in a Queen Anne house
moved along roads that wound through woods
to a site on an open hill surrounded by trees.
No walls on the main floor. Just exposed
two-by-fours with art hanging from studs
Tables with covers and fresh flowers set up
in café style. Pitch-in food in the basement.
Beer and wine brought along to share.
A pianist and I brought jazz and poetry
with a southern Indiana accent.
We all floated together free of gravity.
As I half sang, half-chanted, and recited
my poems, a young woman with long
curly hair seated almost within reach
looked and listened with the quiet
intensity of a plant sending out tendrils.
A white light radiated from within her.
She looked familiar and of the place,
but shone like a local mystery.
You could tell by the look in her eye
that she had something to give,
but not a gift that calls attention to itself.
She knew how to look and listen,
to absorb what she saw and heard.
It was clear that she was coming
into whatever powers would be hers.
Her vision and voice were growing.
Bio: Indiana Poet Laureate 2008-10, Norbert Krapf is the author of ten full-length poetry collections, the latest being American Dreams: Reveries and Reflections (2013) and Songs in Sepia and Black and White (2012). In April 2014 his Catholic Boy Blues: A Poet's Journal of Healing appeared. He has collaborated with jazz pianist Monika Herzig, with whom he released a CD, Imagine, and with bluesman Gordon Bonham. He has also collaborated with photographers Daryl Jones, David Pierini, and Richard Fields in books published by Indiana University Press.
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