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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Bernadette Mayer
Bernadette Mayer
Bernadette Mayer was born in 1945 in Brooklyn, New York. She received her B.A. from the New School for Social Research in 1967. She is the author of numerous books...
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FURTHER READING
Poems About Friendship
After the Movie
by Marie Howe
Mending Wall
by Robert Frost
Skunk Hour
by Robert Lowell
Stanzas in Meditation
by Gertrude Stein
The Armadillo
by Elizabeth Bishop
We Have Been Friends Together
by Caroline Elizabeth Sarah Norton
Your Catfish Friend
by Richard Brautigan
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On Gifts For Grace  
by Bernadette Mayer

I saw a great teapot

I wanted to get you this stupendous
100% cotton royal blue and black checked shirt,
There was a red and black striped one too
Then I saw these boots at a place called Chuckles
They laced up to about two inches above your ankles
All leather and in red, black or purple
It was hard to have no money today
I won't even speak about the possible flowers and kinds of lingerie
All linen and silk with not-yet-perfumed laces
Brilliant enough for any of the Graces
Full of luxury, grace notes, prosperousness and charm
But I can only praise you with this poem—
Its being is the same as the meaning of your name



Copyright © 2005 by Bernadette Mayer. From Scarlet Tanager. Reprinted with permission of New Directions Publishing.
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