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tryst3ditor 's review for:
The Hocus-Pocus of the Universe
by Laura Gilpin
Gilpin's one and only published book to date, The Hocus-Pocus of the Universe won the Walt Whitman award in 1976. Then she disappeared from the public spotlight until her death in 2007. I had her book, lost it, retrieved it from the attic where it had been buried for years. I can't say that her work in this book was remarkable, or that it was especially memorable, but there were several poems that will always stay with me . I was saddened by the news of her death, and it made me want to go back read over her work. What I found was that the simplicity of her lines, her wording and phrase were so guileless, pure, and quiet that I am sad to think she may go unknown, unread by the vast majority of readers today. Her poem, the "Two-Headed Calf" is probably her best known poem.
The Two-headed Calf
by Laura Gilpin
Tomorrow when the farm boys find this
freak of nature they will wrap his body
in newspaper and carry him to the museum.
But tonight he is alive and in the north
field with his mother. It is a perfect
summer evening: the moon rising over
the orchard, the wind in the grass.
And as he stares into the sky, there
are twice as many stars as usual.
The Two-headed Calf
by Laura Gilpin
Tomorrow when the farm boys find this
freak of nature they will wrap his body
in newspaper and carry him to the museum.
But tonight he is alive and in the north
field with his mother. It is a perfect
summer evening: the moon rising over
the orchard, the wind in the grass.
And as he stares into the sky, there
are twice as many stars as usual.