Carnal Fragrance

Title Page, Copyright, Dedication, Acknowledgments

Carnal Fragrance poems 8 Florence Weinberger Red Hen Press Los Angeles Carnal Fragrance Copyright © 2004 by Florence Weinberger ALL RIGHTS RESERVED No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without the prior written permission of both the publisher and the copyright owner. Cover art Venus, Ariadne and Bacchus by Jerald Silva Book design by Michael Vukadinovich Cover Design by Mark E. Cull ISBN 1-888996-95-1 Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 2004096618 Published by Red Hen Press The City of Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Department, California Arts Council and the Los Angeles County Arts Commission partially support Red Hen Press. First Edition For Ted, again Acknowledgments This is my Academy Award Acceptance Speech, my first opportunity to thank the fabulous people who have been part of my poetry life for over 40 years, critics/friends, workshop teachers, beloved poets who have died, living poets I have loved: Elaine Alarcon, Trudy Alexy, Richard Beban, Kate Braverman, Judy Brayer, Jean Brody, Christopher Buckley, Ralph S. Carlson, Nels Christianson, Jeanette Clough, Wanda Coleman, Carol V. Davis, Fred Franklyn, Helen Friedland, Kate Gale, Amy Gerstler, Shirley Graham, Jack Grapes, Steve Gross, Doris Grumbach, Robert Hass, Karen Holden, Ro Jaeger, Gloria Jagudin, Robin Johnson, Galway Kinnell, Carol Kivo, Carolyn Kizer, Norm Levine, Peggy Levine, Peter Levitt, Shirley Love, Glenna Luschei, Lee McCarthy, Anne Marple, Henry J. Morro, Lisel Mueller, Jim Natal, Linda Neal, Terri Niccum, Sharon Olds, David Oliveira, Sherman Pearl, Mima Pereira, Irwin Porges, Holly Prado, Ellen Reich, Harriet Rochlin, Sarah Rose Rolfe, Lee Rossi, David St. John, Benjamin Saltman, Nina Sandrich, Joyce Schwartz, Robin Schyman, Anne Silver, Lila Silvern, Doris Silverton, Maurya Simon, Carol Stager, Ann Stanford, Joyce Stein, Gerald Stern, Austin Straus, Phil Taggart, Carine Topal, Amy Uyematsu, Carol Walker, Jan Wesley, Jackson Wheeler, Bayla Winters, Cecilia Woloch, and Sondra Zeidenstein Poems have appeared in the following periodicals, some in different form: Artlife:“To Imagine”; Beyond the Valley of the Contemporary Poets (1998):“TheTailor’sWidow CooksforOne,”publishedas“MyFirstSaturdayNightHomeAloneIs”;Daybreak:“ICould Say It’s Tobacco”; Rattle:“I Began With Frayed Swaters,” “Evicting the Mourning Doves”; Rivertalk: “How the Dead Crowd Our Closets,”“The Night Draws Itself Around My Throat”;TheCancerPoetryProject:“Numb”;Spillway:“ANewOwner,”“ShePutonYourHat.” ...