Squall

By Stanley Moss b. 1925 Stanley Moss

I have not used my darkness well,

nor the Baroque arm that hangs from my shoulder,

nor the Baroque arm of my chair.

The rain moves out in a dark schedule.

Let the wind marry. I know the creation

continues through love. The rain’s a wife.

I cannot sleep or lie awake. Looking

at the dead I turn back, fling

my hat into their grandstands for relief.

How goes a life? Something like the ocean

building dead coral.

Stanley Moss, “Squall” from A History of Color: New and Collected Poems. Reprinted with the permission of Seven Stories Press, www.sevenstories.com.

Source: A History of Color: New and Collected Poems (Seven Stories Press, 2003)

Biography

Stanley Moss was educated at Trinity College and Yale University and makes his living as a private art dealer, specializing in Spanish and Italian Old Masters. As a child he visited Europe with his family, and after serving in World War II he taught English in Barcelona and Rome, where he became familiar with the religious and mythical figures that appear in his work.

He is the critically acclaimed author of The Skull of Adam . . .

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