A poetry giant (and lesbian), Adrienne Rich passes away

From "Six Edgelit" by Adrienne Rich

The night of the eclipse the full
moon
swims clear between the flying clouds until

the hour of the occlusion It's not of aging
anymore and its desire
which is of course unending

it's of dying young or old
in full desire

Remember me....O, O, O,
O, remember me

these vivid stricken cells
precarious living marrow
this is my labyrinthine filmic brain
this is my dreaded blood
this is my irreplaceable
footprint vanishing from the air

dying in full desire
thirsting for the coldest water
hungering for hottest food
gazing into the wildest light

edgelight from the high desert
where shadows drip from tiniest stones
sunklight of bloody afterglow

torque of the Joshua tree
flinging itself forth in winter
factoring freeze into its liquid consciousness

These are the extremes I stoke
into the updraft of this life
still roaring

into thinnest air

1993-1994