Poem: “O, Florida, Venereal Soil” by Wallace Stevens

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American Literature – American Poetry – Wallace Stevens – Poems by Wallace Stevens –
< < < From the Misery of Don Joost
Last Looks at the Lilacs> > >

O, Florida, Venereal Soil

A few things for themselves,
Convolvulus and coral,
Buzzards and live-moss,
Tiestas from the keys,
A few things for themselves,
Florida, venereal soil,
Disclose to the lover.

The dreadful sundry of this world,
The Cuban, Polodowsky,
The Mexican women,
The negro undertaker
Killing the time between corpses
Fishing for crayfish . . .Virgin of boorish births,

Swiftly in the nights,
In the porches of Key West,
Behind the bougainvilleas,
After the guitar is asleep,
Lasciviously as the wind,
You come tormenting,
Insatiable,

When you might sit,
A scholar of darkness,
Sequestered over the sea,
Wearing a clear tiara
Of red and blue and red,
Sparkling, solitary, still,
In the high sea-shadow.

Donna, donna, dark,
Stooping in indigo gown
And cloudy constellations,
Conceal yourself or disclose
Fewest things to the lover—
A hand that bears a thick-leaved fruit,
A pungent bloom against your shade.

< < < From the Misery of Don Joost
Last Looks at the Lilacs > > >

American Literature – American Poetry – Wallace Stevens – Poems by Wallace Stevens

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O, Florida, Venereal Soil

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