Pretty Maids All In a Row

Kathy Riordan

Location: Florida, United States
Birthday: April 27

Bio: One woman's view of life and the universe. Follow @katriord on Twitter.

MY RECENT POSTS

Look at This Face
February 09, 2012 12:46PM
The Good Year
December 31, 2011 08:39AM
Christmas, Party of One
December 26, 2011 10:19AM
Christmas Greetings
December 23, 2011 06:56PM
What's In a (First) Name?
December 12, 2011 07:28AM

MY RECENT COMMENTS

“Sigh. . .John Cusack. A favorite movie, a favorite song, a favorite all-time guy…”
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January 06, 2012 07:12AM
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January 06, 2012 06:53AM
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January 02, 2012 09:30AM
“For all your sakes, I hope so, too. We could use a good year.”
January 01, 2012 07:43PM

Kathy Riordan's Links

What I Can't Write About: Floating; The Strong One; The Best News Yet; In My Mother's Arms; To a Younger Sister; Do Not Disturb; Taking the Red-Eye; Breath of Life; Tears; do not resuscitate; Vigil; What I Can't Write About
Poetry, if you like that sort of thing:: The Sound of Trees; At the Public House; Dear Girl; it wasn't long, the time that was; Base Camp in Muddy Bottom; in tribute to stevie smith; After the Having, Having Had; Silver; There Is No Insurance for This; Pretty Maids All In a Row; I Thought I'd Write a Little Villanelle; At the Beguinage (for Megan); Daddy Did You Dream Me Up
Christmas: Silver; Signs and Wonders, and a Christmas Miracle; The Christmas Baby; The Ecumenical, Geographical, All-Inclusive Christmas Feast; Making a List, Checking it Twice; Santa Dog; The Dreaded Holiday Letter; When Santa Was My Grandpa; A Naked Christmas; E-Readers and iPhones and Coffee, Oh My! Holiday 2009 Guide; Favorite Homemade Family Gifts for Christmas
New to Open Salon?: Your Friends on Open Salon; Best Posts of Open Salon 2009; Introduction to Some Great Reads on Open Salon
Where I've been, where I'm going:: Paris; Under a New Mexico Sky; Casting the Movie of My Life; Muffin; Sagebrush and Funeral Potatoes; Saying Goodbye to Summer at the Cottage
Twitter from the Inside:: Twitter Is What You Make It: Who to Follow, and Why
Posts on World War II:: Honoring My Soldiers, My Heroes on Veterans Day; Letter from an American World War II Soldier to His Parents; On the 65th Anniversary of Operation Market Garden; Tom Hanks to Bring "Beyond All Boundaries" to WWII Museum
Some of my work on Iran:: Index: all posts on Iran and Neda; "The Anonymous" Behind Neda Video Awarded Prestigious Polk; Iran Fabricates Interpol Involvement in Neda Investigation; Doctor Claims to Identify Neda's Killer; Doctor in Neda Video Arrives Safely in London; Not that Neda: How the Wrong Photo Became an Icon; Updates on Neda, Symbol of a Revolution; Her Name Was Neda
Some of my favorite posts:: When Mayo Clinic Speaks, I Listen; Incognito in Istanbul; Such a Death
I also write here:: Follow me on bloglovin; Follow me on Kindle; In My Life; Journeys

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NOVEMBER 15, 2009 10:18AM

Rate: 13 Flag

pretty maids all in a row

"Nothing can be sole or whole

that has not been rent." - William Butler Yeats

Stripped metaphor of half-spent nights

I was to love--another petty phrase,

like measureless caverns and corkless maids--

a faceless form in unheard verse.

Now eclipsed passion passion redefines.

For want of art or buckled bed

this rephrased heart repudiates its past

blurred vastness of unmastered lines.

"Nun With Schoolchildren" oil on canvas by Leonard Creo (b. 1923) courtesy Kathy Riordan

Author tags:

open call, kubla kahn, windhover to christ our lord, tartarus of maids, samuel taylor coleridge, herman melville, gerard manley hopkins, painting, nun with schoolchildren, leonard creo, poetry, love, mastery

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Comments

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I am sitting in the Minneapolis airport between flights, so thought I'd post a little Sunday morning poetry for those who've recovered from the pirate hangovers. . .Enjoy.

Kathy Riordan

November 15, 2009 10:19 AM

thanks Kathy. take care. have a peaceful flight.

MaddieP

November 15, 2009 10:41 AM

Thanks for the Sunday poem, Kathy. A little verse is just what I needed to perk me up--hope you had a good flight.

Karin Greenberg

November 15, 2009 12:57 PM

Lovely words on a cool Sunday morning... hope the flight is/was good and you have more to say!

mypsyche

November 15, 2009 01:15 PM

Thanks to those of you who appreciate my occasional posting of poetry on the weekends.

Kathy Riordan

November 15, 2009 05:32 PM

Yeats was a genius, and you're pretty damn good yourself!

Rated.

Andy Heizeler

November 15, 2009 06:27 PM

I definitely appreciate Sunday verse (for me, Sunday evening), especially when I am reminded to look ahead. Thanks, Kathy, I did enjoy!

Julie Hershey

November 15, 2009 07:55 PM

sunday poem...nice. i'm a fan of any day poetry

lorianne

November 15, 2009 10:01 PM

Liked your poetry as well as the links. Have a safe trip.

Traveller1

November 15, 2009 10:59 PM

Thanks all for your kind words. I arrived home safely late today, and appreciate that people stopped by to visit this piece in the meantime.

Kathy Riordan

November 15, 2009 11:04 PM

Kathy, this one is deeply good.

Caroline Hagood

November 16, 2009 12:20 PM

"The blurred vastness of unmastered lines." Yep, that pretty much describes my blog. As for the mastered lines of Melville, Coleridge, and Hopkins -- well, they need no rephrasing.

Steve Blevins

November 16, 2009 10:04 PM

Caroline and Steve, those comments mean the world to me particularly. Thanks for appreciating.

Kathy Riordan

November 16, 2009 10:53 PM

...the smallest one was Madeline.
So much to learn, so little time.

Here's hoping our words are always chasing our lives, and not the other way around.

Late, to the party, I got to read this thanks to Val Day.