J.L. Williams' Condition of Fire, second selection

This time, now that I've read and enjoyed the full collection, I'm offering some favourite passages. As I mentioned in the last post, it's inspired by Ovid's Metamorphoses and the islands on which he wrote it.

What if you could change into anything?

What if you could live, and live, and live?

last stanza of "Proserpine Under a Tree"

Like many teenage girls it took

disaster for Io to realise

she was beautiful.

first stanza of "Io"

A winged creature flies toward the sun,

his [Marsyas'] entire skin in its mouth

like a paper doll.

last stanza of "Marsyas"

Sisters falling through sky

on sudden wings.

last stanza of "Metamorph"

They burn our naked feet

but we walk slowly.

last stanza of "Beach"

this castle for winds

from "Foundling"

Four monstrous footprints leading up the mountain,

the last one deepest,

as if pushed off for flight.

last stanza of "Banshee"

The sea's noise

is the speeches of drowning stones.

last stanza of "Morphemes"

and over there, on the run, history.

last stanza of "Caesar's Balcony"

In darkness,

beaten by moths,

you realise you are the light.

*

In darkness,

stared at by the starving,

you realise you are fire.

first and last stanzas of "Apotheosis"

J.L. Williams

Condition of Fire

(Shearsman, 2011)

J.L. Williams' Condition of Fire, first selection

Fellow American expat J.L. Williams will be launching her first book, Condition of Fire, alongside my second, Divining for Starters, on the Shearsman reading series on Tuesday, 15 February in London. Here's a short selection. The book is inspired by Ovid's Metamorphoses and the islands on which he wrote it.

Helios Retires

How pale the sea,

the pale of rain in pools.

Will the doors with the white whales ever be opened?

Will the horses that pull the sun

ever be harnessed?

J.L. Williams

Condition of Fire

(Shearsman, 2011)