David Lehman

We were smoking some of this knockout weed when Operation Memory was announced. To his separate bed Each soldier went, counting backwards from a hundred With a needle in his arm. And there I

There comes a time when the story turns into twenty Different stories and soon after that he academy of shadows Retreats to the cave of a solitary boy in a thriving Metropolis where no

The sky is crumbling into millions of paper dots The wind blows in my face So I duck into my favorite barber shop And listen to Vivaldi and look in the mirror Reflecting the

Eighty-one degrees a record high for the day Which is not my birthday but will do until The eleventh of June comes around and I know What I want: a wide-brimmed Panama hat With

What can you say about the Mets Down three games to none One run down with six outs to go Cedeno singles steals second Mora walks They pull off a double steal And Olerud

He woke up in New York City on Valentine’s Day, Speeding. The body in the booth next to his was still warm, Was gone. He had bought her a sweater, a box of chocolate

The old war is over the new one has begun Between drivers and pedestrians on a Friday In New York light is the variable and structure The content according to Rodrigo Moynihan’s Self-portraits at

I’m a very average person, And I think most people are. I vote with the common man. I have two kids, a boy and a girl. Last Sunday I played golf with the boss.

It’s my birtday I’ve got an empty Stomach and the desire to be Lazy in the hammock and maybe Go for a cool swim on a hot day With the trombone in Sinatra’s “I’ve

We have a name for it In the South: Asshole buddies. It means we’ve known Each other so long It doesn’t matter That he’s an asshole In my opinion Or I’m an asshole In

The last Campbell’s tomato soup can Of the twentieth century is going to The Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh That is an example of a sentence Another is this from a CEO in Fortune

I was about to be mugged by a man With a chain so angry he growled At the Lincoln Center subway station When out of nowhere appeared a tall Chubby-faced Hasidic Jew with peyot

Don’t walk away, Renee, I’m just getting warmed up Your body is like a river And I’m going to swim across I want to explore the left Bank of you then the right You’re

No two are identical though They begin from the same Point in time the same point in The dream when the radio shuts Itself off in the middle of “Just in Time” (Sinatra version)

If you could write down the words Moving through a man’s mind as He masturbates you’d have a quick Bonus bonk read, I used to think. But words were never adequate Or the point

“My propositions serve as elucidations in the following way: anyone who understands them eventually recognizes them as nonsensical, when he has used them as steps to climb up beyond them. (He must, so to

When she says Margarita she means Daiquiri. When she says quixotic she means mercurial. And when she says, “I’ll never speak to you again,” She means, “Put your arms around me from behind As

The shrink says, “Everything depends On how many stuffed animals you had As a boy,” and my mother tells me my Father was left-handed and so is my son And they’re both named Joe

Remember when Khrushchev said “We will bury you!” On the cover Of Time I thought he was Employing a metaphor As in “Braves Scalp Giants!” On the back page Of the Daily News I

Light rain is falling in Central Park But not on Upper Fifth Avenue or Central Park West Where sun and sky are yellow and blue Winds are gusting on Washington Square Through the arches

for Aaron Fogel Politically-correct Personal computers Point and click. President Clinton (codename Peacock) Can’t protect Crack pushing Communist Party Cops pursuing A care package Of peasant consciousness In a car park. Poverty’s a crime,

We have too much exhibitionism And not enough voyeurism In poetry we have plenty of bass And not enough treble, more amber Beer than the frat boys can drink but Less red wine than

His first infidelity was a mistake, but not as big As her false pregnancy. Later, the boy found out He was born three months earlier than the date On his birth certificate, which had

My bag was missing at the airport “Just one bag?” “Yes, but it meant a lot to me” I had seen the bartender before, but where? “You didn’t tell me you had been to

What is it about the Abyss That tempts the young poet to kiss The air and head for the nearest cliff? This Unreasonable attachment to the bliss Of falling what accounts for it? Unlike

My new Web site is dropdead. com It’s interactive you get to choose how You’ll die, where, and at what age And it’ll still come as a complete Surprise to you I guarantee But

Though Already Perhaps However. On one level, Among other things, With And with. In a similar vein To be sure: Make no mistake. Nary a trace. However, Aside from With And with, Not And

Some people find out they are Jews. They can’t believe it. Thy had always hated Jews. As children they had roamed in gangs on winter nights in the old neighborhood, looking for Jews. They

The sky was a midnight blue Velvet cloth draping A birdcage and no moon But the breeze was whistling And the sound of a car On Valentine Place was The rush of a waterfall