May Swenson

1 month ago | lisamariebasile.substack.com | May Swenson |Lisa Marie Basile

Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedBody my housemy horse my houndwhat will I dowhen you are fallen— "Question" by May SwensonI’ve been breaking for years, but I finally came apart last summer—my summer of rupture. It all started with inflammatory arthritis—axial spondyloarthritis—which I’ve had for over a decade. I was diagnosed by experts at NYU and the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City after years of eye inflammation, fatigue, and spinal pain.

Sep 28, 2023 | contemporaryverse2.ca | May Swenson

At first glance, May Swenson’s 1959 poem “Pigeon Woman” depicts a social outcast, an elderly woman who conforms to a narrow, urban regimen, feeding city pigeons at precisely 1:30 every day, while no other human offers any interaction with her.