Sappho at the Edge of Love

Sappho at the Edge of Love
100 Poems by Michael Pastore

by Michael Pastore

Paperback, 160 Pages
$ 15
ISBN: 9780927379182

Visit the book’s page at Amazon.com

“Every great poem,” Pastore writes, “is a magic lamp that glows with music and mysticism, madness and love.”

Sappho at the Edge of Love is a diverse and always interesting book containing blank verse, sonnets, songs, humor, parodies, and gasp! — poems that rhyme.

Here you will find subtle and silly poems about loneliness and longing; creativity and the artist; the beauty and complexities of Nature; the search for a meaningful life; and the power of genuine Love.

Shakespeare Confesses

How I loved the rolling-buxomed maids
quick serving winks at Boars Head Inn!
Their flesh plumps blushing pale red shades
their tumbling billows much too thin.

And when ’twas asked: Who pinched the arse ?
Who quaffed our foam-topped ales then failed to pay ?
I told my name — O what a farce!
“I’m Francis Bacon” didst me say.

Another night I socked a banker
Right flattened him beneath the bar low
He screamed for constables, that bloody wanker
I proudly claimed: “My name is Marlowe.”

To creditors, bulk-muscled manly
I tipped my cap to tell: “I’m William Stanley.”
For lovely ladies, I kissed a tingling ear
Then gave my early card: “Edward de Vere”.

The deepest words are always written —
in one Shakespeare you can trust —
By a wild heart each day smitten
on fire from love, and poetry, and lust.

— Michael Pastore