Fountains of Aix

By May Swenson 1913–1989 May Swenson

Beards of water

some of them have.

Others are blowing whistles of water.

Faces astonished that constant water

jumps from their mouths.

Jaws of lions are snarling water

through green teeth over chins of moss.

Dolphins toss jets of water

from open snouts

to an upper theater of water.

Children are riding swans and water

coils from the S-shaped necks and spills

in flat foils from pincered bills.

A solemn curly-headed bull

puts out a swollen tongue of water.

Cupids naked are making water

into a font that never is full.

A goddess is driving a chariot through water.

Her reins and whips are tight white water.

Bronze hoofs of horses wrangle with water.

Marble faces half hidden in leaves.

Faces whose hair is leaves and grapes

of stone are peering from living leaves.

Faces with mossy lips unlocked

always uttering water,

water

wearing their features blank

their ears deaf, their eyes mad

or patient or blind or astonished at water

always uttered out of their mouths.

Source: Nature: Poems Old and New (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1994)

Biography

During her prolific career, May Swenson received numerous literary awards and nominations for her poetry. Often experimental in both form and appearance, her poems earned her widespread critical acclaim. As Priscilla Long commented in the Women's Review of Books, "Swenson was a visionary poet, a prodigious observer of the fragile and miraculous natural world."

Swenson's poetry has been praised for its imagery, which is . . .

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