March 16: U. P. Poet Laureate, Andrea Scarpino, "Love as Stained Glass"

So, I thought it only fair since I told you who the new U. P. Poet Laureate is in my last post, I should probably give her another honor this evening.  Andrea Scarpino will be the Poet of the Week.

I know that you're all expecting me to make snarky comments about Andrea and her poems.  After all, I'm a little bit of a narcissist, if you haven't noticed.  And I have a slight problem with jealousy.  However, I shall rise above my baser instincts, or at least lock them up in a cage for the next seven days.

The poem below is from Scarpino's recently published collection of elegies titled Once, Then.

See, Saint Marty can play nice sometimes.

Love as Stained Glass

by:  Andrea Scarpino

Plates of glass flushed with silver, red:

Mary's tender hands, golden crown of thorns.

Nothing more than sand, gathered,

molten, poured, what was given, turned.

Alchemy almost.  As if laid bare,

Earth offered every particle.  Here, Earth said,

take what you can, sand lime, lead.

Make it beautiful.  Make it tremble, burn.

Am I this bad?