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Heather McHugh

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MYRRHA TO THE SOURCE

MYRRHA TO THE SOURCE

MYRRHA TO THE SOURCE

O fluent one, o muscle full of hydrogen,
o stuff of grief, whom the Greeks
accuse of spoiling souls,

whose destiny is downward,
whose reflecting’s up—I think
I must have come from you.

Just one more cup.

© 2008, Heather McHugh
From: Poetry, Vol. 191, No. 6, March
Publisher: Poetry, Chicago

Heather McHugh

Heather McHugh

(United States of America, 1948)

Heather McHugh’s work is noted for its rhetorical gestures, sharp puns and interest in the materials of language itself – her self-described determination is “to follow every surge of language, every scrap and flotsam”. Describing her work in the Boston Review, poet and critic Richard Howard alleged that “most of McHugh’s poems end in a spurt, as they proceed in a slather, of just such astonish...

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Poems of Heather McHugh

LEAF LITTER ON ROCK FACE

PHILSOPHER ORDERS CRISPY PORK

NOT TO BE DWELLED ON

SPACE BAR

ELEVATED

HALF BORDER, HALF LAB

REMAINS TO BE SEEN

DARK VIEW

MYRRHA TO THE SOURCE

FROM THE TOWER

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MYRRHA TO THE SOURCE

O fluent one, o muscle full of hydrogen,
o stuff of grief, whom the Greeks
accuse of spoiling souls,

whose destiny is downward,
whose reflecting’s up—I think
I must have come from you.

Just one more cup.

From: Poetry, Vol. 191, No. 6, March

MYRRHA TO THE SOURCE

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