Been through the agoraphobic’s
desert, Yuma at 117 degrees
Life in the furnace under
a terrifying open sky
(no place to burrow)
You say I need to en-
dure the sweat-lodge,
sleep with snakes
& scorpions
at my side
(every fear alive)
Live a full week
w/ the Terrors
(find the buddha …
or the christ
magnified?)
You say …
you say …
And in you I
surely trust
(god help
me …)
True soul
touch me,
ease me
(somewhat …)
Horror wherein lurks
the desert of my
sapien &
cowardly
heart
Back Principles (19): sapien & cowardly heart by Stephen Bett
Stephen Bett is a widely and internationally published Canadian poet with 26 books in print (from BlazeVOX, Chax, Spuyten Duyvil, & others), his two most recent being Broken Glosa, from Chax Press (2023) and SongBu®st, from BlazeVOX Books (2024). His personal papers are archived in the “Contemporary Literature Collection” at Simon Fraser University.
