THE QUEEN
I roved among the fields and
furrows.
I was tan in the sun of the
golden day.
At the end of my trail, at the
edge of the meadows,
I found a blue pond, enclosed
with hay.
Tall, yellow reeds wavered and
swayed,
And perfumed the wafting,
summer breeze
Which sailed like honey through the
linden trees,
Blessing the courtyard there
where I stayed.
Suddenly a queen ascended from
the rosy bowers,
In a garment made of carmine and
glistening white.
Her mane was raven, slender,
long and bright,
And her eyes were of a song which
poured wine upon the flowers.
Her gaze was one of a statues’:
deep, dark and grave.
Her lips were of Elysian woods,
soft, red and glossy with scent.
I knelt before her, beneath the
fronds, green and redolent.
She stood in silence; through
her tresses did lave
Blue, caressing gales, which
came from the ocean.
We knew naught but ardor and its
every emotion,
And the pond was struck with a
gust from above.
She took my hand in hers, and
accepted my love;
And as if in a dream,
We passed through a curtain, an
ethereal light,
By a silver dream,
Beneath the ascending, starry
moon,
White,
Full, round and pale,
Which eclipsed the trees, the
courts, the lagoon,
Leaving us to the breezy sea,
As we departed from this weary vale-
To a rapturous height of
ecstasy.
~ John Lars Zwerenz
PHOTO OF JOHN ZWERENZ: COURTESY OF MICHELLE BRENT
John Lars Zwerenz (1969-) is an American poet. He was born and raised in Queens, a suburb of New York City. Zwerenz is known for his romantic, impressionistic and mystical verse. His schools include Saint Francis Preparatory High School, and Christ the King High School, both located in Queens, New York. As a high school student, Zwerenz was known as a kind of drifter, and at this time he discovered the works of Rimbaud, Verlaine, Keats and Byron. He later attended Queens College of The City University of New York where he earned a Bachelor's Degree in English Letters in 1992. At the age of 24 Zwerenz left his graduate studies to pursue poetry, travel and adventure. His few attempts at conservative employment were complete failures, due to his bohemian lifestyle and his fondness for alcohol. Zwerenz traveled extensively throughout the United States, and has published 7 books: six books of verse, and one novella. He wrote most of what he later published on the road in such places as Indiana, California, London and Paris. All of Zwerenz's books were published at his own expense. He frequently lived in states of abject poverty, and often depended on financial assistance from strangers. According to his schoolmates and teachers, Zwerenz was fraught with extremities in drama and change and exhibited erratic behavior ever since he was a teenager. In 2001 he was arrested for trespassing after crossing into Canada without proper credentials. In 2003 he was hospitalized in Paris, France for symptoms of manic-depressive illness, and his alcohol consumption, for many years prodigious, increased at about this time. His relationships with women have always been intense and stormy, although he claims to "idolize" women in most of his verse. He is a self-proclaimed Roman Catholic, yet his political views have not been expressed in any public fashion. His verse has been criticized as both "antiquated," and praised as "the best since the death of Robert Frost." Aside from being a writer of poetry and fiction, Zwerenz is also a classical composer, and a rock performer.
He currently lives in The United States and works as a journalist in New York City. He is 44 years of age.
R. Pocelli
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