A Love Poem from Gwynn O'Gara

From her new book of poetry "We Who Dream."

Song for a Bride

There is nothing like it 

Beloved, a good man purring at your breast 
the cellar full of groats and salt 
your future brewing like soup on the stove

You learn about proportion 
and the language your lover dreams in

Exploring the landscape you will age in 
you send your boats out, low in the water 
with the bulk of your history
quick and shimmery with delight

Sometimes his boats come to you so weighted down 
you go on strike until he unloads them himself
or your heart cracks enough to let him in

Sometimes on unmarked anniversaries 
of the first time you understood each other 
or his first appearance in your dreams 
your boats sail off together 
no longer servants but envoys 
meeting and going off on their own

Gwynn O’Gara

Gwynn O’Gara’s new book of poetry

Gwynn O’Gara lives in Sebastopol and her bio say that she’s a “poet with roots in the natural world, Beat poetry, and her early years in Mexico. O’Gara found her voice performing in San Francisco’s North Beach, and her first book, Snake Woman Poems, was celebrated at City Lights Bookstore in 1983.” She served as Sonoma County Poet Laureate from 2010-2011.

Gwynn O’Gara’s new book of poetry, We Who Dream, is published by Finishing Line Press. It can be found at Copperfield’s in Sebastopol and Montgomery Village. The cover painting is by Mark Casey Milestone.