【Philippines】
Birthday Letter from South Carolina
From the Archive
Augustus Paul Trouche, The Hundred Pines, James Island, South Carolina, c. nineteenth century.
Jean Valentine’s poem “Birthday Letter from South Carolina” appeared in our Fall 1981 issue. Valentine is eighty-two today. Her most recent collection is Shirt in Heaven.
for Sarah, 21
Yellow apple
Star inside the apple
seed star quiet
Walking up the Cummings’ quiet red-earth road,
I think of you there, near the white-
ridged harbor: in a yellow kerchief,
in the blowing sunlight, you walk
along the concrete of the holding world.
You hold it all to your chest, the blue day, night,
long coffee, long talk, —You hold
your kind, stumbling, sure
life in your hands.
Indian cloth, the goose-neck desk light …
Basho spent the first twenty years of his life
apprenticing, his second twenty years
raising his family, the third twenty years
walking. Walking here
today I saw him, Basho, at the far edge of the field
of winter wheat; and you alongside him;
his long black and white steps moving
not away; alongside.
Search
Categories
Latest Posts
In This World You Have to Sell Something I Carley Gomez
2025-06-25 20:59Inside Twitter's office for the first debate live stream
2025-06-25 20:41Hong Kong police try to join in the pen
2025-06-25 20:07Making a Murderer's Steven Avery to give Dr. Phil interview
2025-06-25 19:54Headscarf Games
2025-06-25 19:08Popular Posts
Hand of War
2025-06-25 21:22Quirky statue unveiled in London prompts wildly mixed reactions
2025-06-25 20:57Armed and Dangerous
2025-06-25 18:51Featured Posts
Fake Realness
2025-06-25 21:14Uber is refunding surge
2025-06-25 19:34Quirky statue unveiled in London prompts wildly mixed reactions
2025-06-25 19:00For the Public Good
2025-06-25 18:47Popular Articles
Bad Seeds
2025-06-25 21:10The iPhone 7 goes on pre
2025-06-25 20:36Quirky statue unveiled in London prompts wildly mixed reactions
2025-06-25 20:00Innocent Despair
2025-06-25 18:58Newsletter
Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest updates.
Comments (93278)
Highlight Information Network
Body Language
2025-06-25 21:14Leadership Information Network
5 major changes that make 'Civilization VI' feel like a better game
2025-06-25 21:12Fashion Information Network
Rob Kardashian's childhood crush was...Kim Kardashian?
2025-06-25 20:37Fresh Information Network
The first 'Survivor: Millennials Vs. Gen
2025-06-25 20:26Fast Information Network
Virtue by the Numbers
2025-06-25 20:23