Kenneth Koch

The Boiling Water

A serious moment for the water is when it boils And though one usually regards it merely as a convenience To have the boiling water available for bath or table Occasionally there is someone

One Train May Hide Another

(sign at a railroad crossing in Kenya) In a poem, one line may hide another line, As at a crossing, one train may hide another train. That is, if you are waiting to cross

To Various Persons Talked To All At Once

You have helped hold me together. I’d like you to be still. Stop talking or doing anything else for a minute. No. Please. For three minutes, maybe five minutes. Tell me which walk to

Variations On A Theme By William Carlos Williams

1 I chopped down the house that you had been saving to live in next summer. I am sorry, but it was morning, and I had nothing to do And its wooden beams were