ANDREAS GRIPP

On Your Beauty

And when the starling's song
was heard
along the trail we walked,
it failed to draw my mind
away from your
melodic voice;

and when you wondered
if you had such beauty,
I said that yours was always there
just like the things we take for granted:

the inch of sticking snow
on naked trees;
a prism bending light
and splitting colour;
that unexpected violet
poking through
the thawing ground;
the wonderment of sound
the time a harp
is strummed on stage –

and your tenderness
of touch,
your slender arc
of hips,
your fluttered blink of eyes
and ease of laughter –

these, yes these,
forever more so
than the bids
of birds and man.

©2009 Andreas Gripp

ANDREAS GRIPP

Andreas Gripp is the author of 13 books of poetry, including
Perennial: Poems Selected & New Volume 2 (Harmonia Press, 2011)
and 11 chapbooks including Under the Evergreens (Harmonia Press, 2011).
He lives in London, Ontario.

Poetry by Andreas Gripp has been published in a number
of literary magazines and anthologies, including
Ascent Aspirations, Literary Review of Canada, Carousel,
Van Gogh's Ear, Canadian Zen Haiku, Arborealis:
A Canadian Anthology of Poetry (Vol. 1 & 2)
and Goodbye Billie Jean: The Meaning of Michael Jackson.
He has read at various literary events in Ontario, including
The Art Bar series in Toronto, The I.V. Lounge series in Toronto,
LitLive in Hamilton, The Poetry Cafe in Oakville,
The Poetry London series in London, and The Sasquatch
and Dusty Owl Series in Ottawa. He has shared the stage
with a number of award-winning poets including Molly Peacock,
Anne Compton, Suzanne Buffam, Olive Senior, Penn Kemp and
John B. Lee among others.