Consolation
How agreeable it is not to be touring Italy this summer, Wandering her cities and ascending her torrid hilltowns. How much better to cruise these local, familiar streets, Fully grasping the meaning of every
Litany
You are the bread and the knife, The crystal goblet and the wine… – Jacques Crickillon You are the bread and the knife, The crystal goblet and the wine. You are the dew on
Another Reason Why I Don't Keep A Gun In The House
The neighbors’ dog will not stop barking. He is barking the same high, rhythmic bark That he barks every time they leave the house. They must switch him on on their way out. The
The Art Of Drowning
I wonder how it all got started, this business About seeing your life flash before your eyes While you drown, as if panic, or the act of submergence, Could startle time into such compression,
Invention
Tonight the moon is a cracker, With a bite out of it Floating in the night, And in a week or so According to the calendar It will probably look Like a silver football,
Dear Reader
Baudelaire considers you his brother, And Fielding calls out to you every few paragraphs As if to make sure you have not closed the book, And now I am summoning you up again, Attentive
Pinup
The murkiness of the local garage is not so dense That you cannot make out the calendar of pinup Drawings on the wall above a bench of tools. Your ears are ringing with the
By A Swimming Pool Outside Syracusa
All afternoon I have been struggling To communicate in Italian With Roberto and Giuseppe, who have begun To resemble the two male characters In my Italian for Beginners, The ones who are always shopping
Japan
Today I pass the time reading A favorite haiku, Saying the few words over and over. It feels like eating The same small, perfect grape Again and again. I walk through the house reciting
Man Listening To Disc
This is not bad Ambling along 44th Street With Sonny Rollins for company, His music flowing through the soft calipers Of these earphones, As if he were right beside me On this clear day
Today
If ever there were a spring day so perfect, So uplifted by a warm intermittent breeze That it made you want to throw Open all the windows in the house And unlatch the door
Neither Snow
When all of a sudden the city air filled with snow, The distinguishable flakes Blowing sideways, Looked like krill Fleeing the maw of an advancing whale. At least they looked that way to me