Taking on the Local Color
THE WESLEYAN POETRY PROGRAM: VOLUME 84
CYNTHIA GENSER
Taking on the Local Color
Copyright © 1974, 1975, 1977, by Cynthia Genser
Acknowledgement is gratefully made to Antaeus and
The Paris Review in the pages of which three of the poems
in this book were first published. The poet wishes to
express a special thanks to Marie Marsham and Fanny
Howe.
The publisher gratefully acknowledges the support of the
Witter Bynner Foundation and the Friends of Wesleyan
University Press Publication Fund toward the publication
of this book.
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Genser, Cynthia, 1950–
Taking on the local color.
(The Wesleyan poetry program; v. 84)
I. Title.
PS3557.E44T3 811′.5′4 76-41486
ISBN 0-8195-2085-3
ISBN 0-8195-1085-8 pbk.
Manufactured in the United States of America
First edition
for Esther, Eli, and Abbot
Table of Contents
She loves the Doorway which has taken the name You
Fixed Foot
Sodden.
What sodden day we didn’t
walk in the rain.
You parading
your glorious head,
the last book’s last
sentence, read