Paula Bohince

Manet’s Asparagus
August 9, 2013 Paula Bohince

Manet’s Asparagus

 

Naked as an

odalisque posed

so the buttocks

are visible,

and the hip,

and one Heaven-

aimed nipple.

 

Slim canoe

edging a pewter

lake ridged by

wind, vessel

weathered from

going so long

un-rowed.

 

Rare white stalk

limp, indigo-

tipped flowers

the doomed

mouth of Christ

saying, This

is my body.

Paula Bohince grew up in rural Pennsylvania. Her first collection, Incident at the Edge of Bayonet Woods was published in 2008 by Sarabande Books and received its inaugural Aleda Shirley Prize. Sarabande published her second collection, The Children, in 2012.  Her poems have appeared in The New Yorker, Poetry, The Times Literary Supplement, Poetry London, and The Yale Review.