cantaraville | cantarabooks

Raised in Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania and alumnus of Cinestudio/Trinity College, Hartford, Connecticut,  Stephen is a film and television director – most notably of Waterland, A Dangerous Woman (with children Jake and Maggie in supporting roles) and Twin Peaks – whose poetry has been published in literary quarterlies such as Prairie Schooner, Nimrod, and Apalachee Review. He divides his time between Martha's Vineyard and Los Angeles. Claptrap: Notes from Hollywood is his first collection of poems. [Photo by Cantara Christopher]

 MADONNA

again
I catch you here
my rat
looking in the mirror
with me,
your ivory hand
with rings for Him
reflecting small my infant fact
that I've betrayed
all I could've hugged
to be like you:

beautiful beyond pianos
beyond the sheen of moons,
queen of my prison cells until

the faux end
when this vain glory burns
all that I view
to ash
so you,
my cream mother love
are heated full
to sandalwood deep
inside my clues
living maggot free
forever and ever,

bless us all,
amen.

For Virginia Gyllenhaal (30 March 1924 -  4 May 2008)
Mother of Stephen, grandmother of Jake and Maggie