{"id":4705,"date":"2015-10-08T15:30:10","date_gmt":"2015-10-08T15:30:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artvilla.com\/plt\/?p=4705"},"modified":"2015-10-10T21:01:10","modified_gmt":"2015-10-10T21:01:10","slug":"the-love-of-one-woman-a-poem-by-franchot-ballinger","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artvilla.com\/plt\/the-love-of-one-woman-a-poem-by-franchot-ballinger\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cThe love of one woman\u201d A poem by Franchot Ballinger"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>&nbsp;<br \/>\n&nbsp;<br \/>\n                    <em><strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<ol>\u201cThe love of one woman<\/ul<\/ol>\n<ul>\n<ul>\n<ol>W.S. Merwin<\/ul<\/ol>\n<\/ul>\n<p><\/em><br \/>\n&nbsp;<br \/>\nHow can there be such singularity?<br \/>\nAll around us are multiplications,<br \/>\nExponential effusions of professions,<br \/>\nOf declaration, of protestation, of procreation.<br \/>\nAll the lavish universe refuses a center,<br \/>\nDenies a focus\u2014galaxy, nebula, black hole,<br \/>\nAll teeming and sucking and wildly flung,<br \/>\nAll\u2019s akimbo, flailing, flying,<br \/>\nEven the million seeds of the white pine<br \/>\nLike stars carried promiscuously afar.<br \/>\n&nbsp;<br \/>\nBut look\u2014she who is a wealth of caresses,<br \/>\nWell-spring of kisses, creates with me a center,<br \/>\nA holdfast root to flower\u2026as if<br \/>\nWe were the only and last of our kind:<br \/>\nPrecious and prayerful, all stem and stalk,<br \/>\nLeaf and flavor, bloom and blossom;<br \/>\nSeed and husk, juice of fruit and pulp.<br \/>\nSunk in guttering light and<br \/>\nDarkening sweep of cosmos,<br \/>\nOf our days, our lives, there is only<br \/>\nThis one love&#8211;avant-garde acceptance,<br \/>\nCool conspicuousness (if puzzling principle),<br \/>\nRemarkable reaping. <\/strong><br \/>\n&nbsp;<br \/>\n&nbsp;<br \/>\n<strong>In retirement after nearly 40 years teaching English at the University of Cincinnati, Franchot Ballinger has continued volunteering with the Cincinnati Nature Center in various capacities and is also a spiritual care volunteer with Hospice of Cincinnati. His poems have appeared in numerous poetry journals in print and on-line.<\/strong><br \/>\n&nbsp;<br \/>\n&nbsp;<br \/>\n<strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.artvilla.com\/\">robin@artvilla.com<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/PoetryLifeTimes\">PoetryLifeTimes<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.artvilla.com\/plt\">Poetry Life &#038; Times<\/a><\/strong><br \/>\n<strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.artvilla.com\/\">editor@artvilla.com<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.artvilla.com\">www.artvilla.com<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Artvilla.com\">Artvilla.com<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-socializer wpsr-share-icons\" data-lg-action=\"show\" data-sm-action=\"show\" data-sm-width=\"768\"><h3>Share and Enjoy !<\/h3><div class=\"wpsr-si-inner\"><div class=\"wpsr-counter wpsrc-sz-40px\" style=\"color:#000\"><span class=\"scount\" data-wpsrs=\"\" data-wpsrs-svcs=\"pinterest,print,pdf,twitter\"><i class=\"fa fa-share-alt\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i><\/span><small class=\"stext\">Shares<\/small><\/div><div class=\"socializer sr-popup sr-count-1 sr-40px sr-pad\"><span class=\"sr-pinterest\"><a data-pin-custom=\"true\" data-id=\"pinterest\" style=\"color:#ffffff;\" rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/pin\/create\/button\/?url=&amp;media=&amp;description=\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Submit this to Pinterest\"><i class=\"fab fa-pinterest\"><\/i><span class=\"ctext\" data-wpsrs=\"\" data-wpsrs-svcs=\"pinterest\"><\/span><\/a><\/span>\n<span class=\"sr-print\"><a data-id=\"print\" style=\"color:#ffffff;\" rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.printfriendly.com\/print?url=\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Print this article \"><i class=\"fa fa-print\"><\/i><\/a><\/span>\n<span class=\"sr-pdf\"><a data-id=\"pdf\" style=\"color:#ffffff;\" rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.printfriendly.com\/print?url=\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Convert to PDF\"><i class=\"fa fa-file-pdf\"><\/i><\/a><\/span>\n<span class=\"sr-twitter\"><a data-id=\"twitter\" style=\"color:#ffffff;\" rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=%20-%20%20\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Tweet this !\"><i class=\"fab fa-twitter\"><\/i><\/a><\/span>\n<span class=\"sr-share-menu\"><a href=\"#\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"More share links\" style=\"color:#ffffff;\" data-metadata=\"{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;excerpt&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;image&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;short-url&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;rss-url&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/www.artvilla.com\\\/plt\\\/feed\\\/&quot;,&quot;comments-section&quot;:&quot;comments&quot;,&quot;raw-url&quot;:null,&quot;twitter-username&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;fb-app-id&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;fb-app-secret&quot;:&quot;&quot;}\"><i class=\"fa fa-plus\"><\/i><\/a><\/span><\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"wp-socializer wpsr-share-icons\" data-lg-action=\"show\" data-sm-action=\"show\" data-sm-width=\"768\"><div class=\"wpsr-si-inner\"><div class=\"socializer sr-popup sr-32px sr-pad\"><span class=\"sr-facebook\"><a data-id=\"facebook\" style=\"background-color:#1e73be;color:#8224e3;\" rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/share.php?u=\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Share this on Facebook\"><i class=\"fab fa-facebook-f\"><\/i><\/a><\/span>\n<span class=\"sr-share-menu\"><a href=\"#\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"More share links\" style=\"background-color:#1e73be;color:#8224e3;\" data-metadata=\"{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;excerpt&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;image&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;short-url&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;rss-url&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/www.artvilla.com\\\/plt\\\/feed\\\/&quot;,&quot;comments-section&quot;:&quot;comments&quot;,&quot;raw-url&quot;:null,&quot;twitter-username&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;fb-app-id&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;fb-app-secret&quot;:&quot;&quot;}\"><i class=\"fa fa-plus\"><\/i><\/a><\/span><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; 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