Kingdom of Lost Waters

Sonya Hess

Hess’s strategies for revelation vary from the Roethkean contemplation of “little” events, to assuming the myths of native Americans, to direct contemporary narrative. Many of these poems read like meditations, where little presupposition is imposed upon landscapes or objects. Hess’s careful imagery allows the grasshopper, the cloud, and even the artist Rubens to speak to the reader. The power of the Western landscape and the human heart coalesce in Hess’s verse.

A sample poem from the book

from “The Gods in Winter”

Father Sun, Mother Moon

The strong man holds his palm

up over the pines, the birches.

He puts one finger on clear ice

and shines through. Is my face

hot from his hand, is it

cold from the glass?

The hem of his tunic, embroidered

with planets, brushes my roof

as he takes his big stride.

In the afternoon he pisses a river

into the valley, steam rises,

the houses close their eyes.

I lie down. The ice stands up

in the window. Slowly the woman

unveils her cantaloupe dances,

seeding my dreams.

My fingers close in sleep

trying to catch her scarf.

She steps over my body,

carrying her lamp along

night's springboard to the pool

at the end of the world.