Lenny Lianne, Poet

You already know Lenny. She gave us a daffodil poem last year. She recently published a volume of poetry, A Wilderness of Riches, and I know you'll be anxious to pick up a copy and read it yourself. (I plan to send my copy to Lenny for her autograph!) Stop by Amazon and see what else she has to her credit.

So, without further ado, here is a poem by Lenny.


And Tomorrow, A Wilderness of Riches

late December, 1606
on the Susan Constant, Godspeed and the Discovery
sailing to the Virginia Colony

We could almost taste the gold,
all of us so hungry for easy riches,
even the ambitious English gentlemen,
mostly upper crust subsequent sons
with no landed inheritance.

This was the whispered promise,
still immanent and fresh,
that we were headed for a land,
lavish in gold and silver, translucent
pearls and fruit, all bountiful
and ready for picking.

Even for the six carpenters, the mason,
two bricklayers, the blacksmith,
the tailor, drummer and barber,
for all the laborers and the four boys,
the past was a place of fog and smoke
and tomorrow, a wilderness of riches,
where even the air would be sweeter.

This vision clung to us
the way the long horizon held
onto the sky. Daily we looked out,
past the scud and slap of the water,
and waited for the land of wealth
to present itself like a new bride.

by Lenny Lianne
courtesy the Innisfree Poetry Journal