She founded Plains Poetry Journal in 1981 ― a literary publication dedicated to promoting the poetry of the New Formalism ― which she edited until 1993. She has taught writing at Bismarck State College, and has worked for two decades as a civil servant for the state of North Dakota.
It was while sitting in a New Orleans café, that the idea for a new poem struck her, which led to Greer’s return to steadily writing verse. The following poem first appeared in First Things.
This Blue
The way the light of you
finds me through the hot,
bright unnamable blue,
that square of ancient glass
in the high apse window,
backlit at mid-day Mass:
blue should not feel like burning,
like a blazing lighthouse lamp,
so here I am, learning
this color like a child
too young for words: this blue
to seek me, self-exiled;
this blue to find me, hiding;
this blue to hold me, helpless,
in your cool fire abiding.
Just a small shard, this blue,
yet I am pierced and pinned.
For me, today, no credo: only you.
Posted with permission of the poet.
This post was suggested by my friend Burl Horniachek.
Entry written by D.S. Martin. He is the author of five poetry collections including Angelicus (2021, Cascade) ― a book of poems written from the point-of-view of angels. His books are available through Wipf & Stock.
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