Pet dogs help children. Spring after spring

two blaze-white Samoyedes sped me out

to my relief to run

into a new hush after the last noon clang

of church bells, rung ringing since dawn

to proclaim Easter Saturday—

                        big bells, high up, and all of them

at once, let loose, a deafening glory

for my city of muted immigrants, plenty

of Catholics, bells just a few blocks apart,

Italy, Poland, Ireland, Germany, & Spain,

their metal tested, their cast full-voiced

non-liturgic, jubilee, wake up, hear this, look

out, resurrection, halleluia in yanked abandon

all morning —

                       avenue traffic drowned out,

backyards & alleys humming in soundsurge,

and my breath a strong pulse

of everywhere hooray--no synchrony

no harmony no purity just hooray



just giant jubilee noise, dogs of course

not liking it, but for me utter

exultation rampant, though I loved my dogs

and took the run they gave me exulting

This is the day that the world hath made.

Rejoice and be glad therein.

Marie Ponsot recently received the Aiken Taylor Award in Modern American Poetry, given annually by Sewanee Review. In 2013, she was awarded the Ruth Lilly Prize for lifetime achievement by the Poetry Foundation. Her Collected Poems was published in August by Knopf.

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Published in the 2005-03-25 issue: View Contents
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