Triolet Challenge Winner: Rita Mae Reese

Terrible Holy Joy: Reading the Norton Anthology of Poetry in Bed

We take our poetry lying down
And smuggle old words into our sleep.
As we trudge through Pope to get to Brown
We take our poetry lying down.
We take the old women and the boys that drown
And by morning lose every line but keep
“Their terrible holy joy.” We take our poetry lying down,
And smuggle old worlds into our sleep.

Rita Mae Reese



Bio Note:
Rita Mae Reese's poems have appeared in New England Review, Southern Review and The Nation, among other places. She teaches writing in UW-Madison's Continuing Studies program and is currently working on a book of poems about Flannery O'Connor.