Endowed in perpetuity by the Glenna Luschei Fund for Excellence

Field in Summer

Field in Summer

Meena Alexander

I had a simple childhood,
A mother and father to take care of me,
no war at my doorstep.

Stones
sang canticles in my mouth
as darkness rose.

Love, love where are they gone?
Father, mother, ink dark stars,
singing stones.

Prairie Schooner, Vol. 78, No. 1 (Spring 2004), p. 187

View Author Bio
Meena Alexander

Meena Alexander was born in Allahabad, India, and turned five on the Indian Ocean. Her childhood was spent in Khartoum, with long summers in India. At eighteen she went to England to study. For the longest time in her life she has lived in New York City. Her new book of poems Birthplace with Buried Stones is forthcoming from TriQuarterly Books/Northwestern University Press. Her website is www.meenaalexander.com.

Author /// Comment

Home is where the heart can never fly to—
Heart that winged creature living on salt and pepper and mussels.

Home is where dreams stop
Where the child cries out in delight at the sudden bend of the road,

Where the grown woman bites her lower lip and draws blood.
Home is where the trees have their roots cut away,

Where dragon flies their wings weighted with tiny stones
Know they are flying into paradise.

Meena Alexander
Composed in Parma, Italy, September 18, 2012

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