Author: Charles Simic

O crows circling over my head and cawing! I admit to being, at times, Suddenly, and without the slightest warning, […]

I say to the lead Why did you let yourself Be cast into a bullet? Have you forgotten the alchemists? […]

The truth is dark under your eyelids. What are you going to do about it? The birds are silent; there’s […]

It isn’t the body That’s a stranger. It’s someone else. We poke the same Ugly mug At the world. When […]

To find clues where there are none, That’s my job now, I said to the Dictionary on my desk. The […]

St. John of the Cross wore dark glasses As he passed me on the street. St. Theresa of Avila, beautiful […]

Dismembered angel In whose heart the earth is still on fire, The moon still has not been split-off; Here is […]

Boss of all bosses of the universe. Mr. know-it-all, wheeler-dealer, wire-puller, And whatever else you’re good at. Go ahead, shuffle […]

It seemed the kind of life we wanted. Wild strawberries and cream in the morning. Sunlight in every room. The […]

I liked my little hole, Its window facing a brick wall. Next door there was a piano. A few evenings […]

A world’s disappearing. Little street, You were too narrow, Too much in the shade already. You had only one dog, […]

Befriending an eccentric young woman The sole resident of a secluded Victorian mansion. She takes long walks in the evening […]

for Hayden Carruth If you didn’t see the six-legged dog, It doesn’t matter. We did, and he mostly lay in […]

The obvious is difficult To prove. Many prefer The hidden. I did, too. I listened to the trees. They had […]

1. The Poet Someone awake when others are sleeping, Asleep when others are awake. An illiterate who signs everything with […]

Executioner happy to explain How his wristwatch works As he shadows me on the street. I call him that because […]

The night still frightens you. You know it is interminable And of vast, unimaginable dimensions. “That’s because His insomnia is […]

Where it says snow Read teeth-marks of a virgin Where it says knife read You passed through my bones Like […]

Seems like a long time Since the waiter took my order. Grimy little luncheonette, The snow falling outside. Seems like […]

On the road with billowing poplars, In a country flat and desolate To the far-off gray horizon, wherein obscurely, A […]

Millions were dead; everybody was innocent. I stayed in my room. The President Spoke of war as of a magic […]

Enter without knocking, hard-working ant. I’m just sitting here mulling over What to do this dark, overcast day? It was […]

As an ant is powerless Against a raised boot, And only has an instant To have a bright idea or […]

Here come my night thoughts On crutches, Returning from studying the heavens. What they thought about Stayed the same, Stayed […]

One shows me how to lie down in a field of clover. Another how to slip my hand under her […]

How much death works, No one knows what a long Day he puts in. The little Wife always alone Ironing […]

Where the path to the lake twists out of sight, A puff of dust, the kind bare feet make running, […]

1 The brightly-painted horse Had a boy’s face, And four small wheels Under his feet, Plus a long string To […]

Father studied theology through the mail And this was exam time. Mother knitted. I sat quietly with a book Full […]

Not a peep out of you now After the bedlam early this morning. Are you begging pardon of me Hidden […]