In 2002 Longhouse Publishers (Bob Arnold, editor) gathered into one exquisitely elegant "accordion booklet with decorative band" a series of Frank Samperi verses entitled The New Heaven Now that had appeared in early Longhouse publications. When I first saw it I happened to be scrolling down the 1990 to 2006 Longhouse Bibliography of published works (each elegantly edited and printed, each respectfully brought back to life from as far ago as 1971). The Longhouse Samperi was a wonderful surprise and I ordered a copy. The simplicity of the Samperi booklet was perfectly suited to the purity and profundity of the verses lying within. I'd like to share my good fortune here.
The New Heaven Now poems come from Samperi's The Repulsion. I recognize here the images of the lonely viator journeying with difficulty through the world but guided always by visions of a "new heaven": the mystic's lonely vigil in his room or garden, a broken angel held tight by a wife and daughter. And verses that appear to falter and drift the higher they climb to the light and love of divinity.
the in our love
the out our light
the new heaven now
heavenly in communion
pro vobis et pro multis
looking to the garden
hearing the bell
from the wind
and a ways
out
ear to eye
a great tree
hair to sea
returning coming quemadmodum
cloud is number not conversely
draco seven seven (ten)
bestia mare seven (ten ten)
bestia terra (two) (n)
where did I sit?
what window?
when?
a bird a sole drop of rain
on a branch
of a bush
you keeping me in view
my hand at rest on
yours
aperto ore suo
in the dark
I sit
in the light
I am
since I see thru a veil
the old
see
me
dark
ly
bird dropping effortlessly
tree or sky
hard to say
blades of grass
fluttering
as well
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