'Only emotion endures'

 

“In poetry, only emotion endures.” – X.J. Kennedy

 

Born in Dover, NJ on this date in 1929, Kennedy was both a children’s book author and poet who published numerous poetry collections, including Dark Horses: New Poems, and Breaking and Entering. His many works for young audiences included Exploding Gravy: Poems to Make You Laugh. 

 

Kennedy (who died in January, 2026) earned degees from Seton Hall and Columbia and had a 6-decade writing career.  For Saturday’s Poem – from his collection Nude Descending a Staircase (winner of the Lamont Poetry Prize) – here is Kennedy’s,   

                          Nude Descending a Staircase

        Toe after toe, a snowing flesh,
        a gold of lemon, root and rind,
        she sifts in sunlight down the stairs
        with nothing on. Nor on her mind.

        We spy beneath the banister
        a constant thresh of thigh on thigh;
        her lips imprint the swinging air
        that parts to let her parts go by.

 

        One-woman waterfall, she wears
        her slow descent like a long cape
        and pausing on the final stair,
        collects her motions into shape.