The Morning Reading: "we lived off love. It was all we had to eat"

In That Other Fantasy Where We Live Forever
--Wanda Coleman

we were never caught

we partied the southwest, smoked it from L.A. to El Dorado 

worked odd jobs between delusions of escape

drunk on the admonitions of parents, parsons & professors

driving faster than the road or law allowed. 

our high-pitched laughter was young, heartless & disrespected

authority. we could be heard for miles in the night

the Grand Canyon of a new manhood. 

womanhood discovered like the first sighting of Mount Wilson

we rebelled against the southwestern wind

we got so naturally ripped, we sprouted wings,

crashed parties on the moon, and howled at the earth

we lived off love. It was all we had to eat

when you split you took all the wisdom

and left me the worry

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Wanda Coleman was one of the first poets I ever heard read back in the day, as the kids say.  

Andrew was fortunate to feature Coleman and her husband Austin Straus on Bibliocracy back in May during the fund drive.  She read from her latest book, The World Falls Away, published by the University of Pittsburgh Press. 

She died yesterday.

From the L.A. Times:  Wanda Coleman dies at 67; L.A.'s unofficial poet laureate

Remembering Wanda Coleman

Wanda Coleman, acclaimed L.A.poet, has died at 67. 

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