William Matthews
Homer's Seeing-Eye Dog
Most of the time he worked, a sort of sleep With a purpose, so far as I could tell. How he got from the dark of sleep To the dark of waking up I’ll
Job Interview
Think you, if Laura had been Petrarch’s wife He would have written sonnets all his life? DON JUAN, III, 63-4 “Where do you see yourself five years from now?” The eldest male member (or
Mingus At The Showplace
I was miserable, of course, for I was seventeen And so I swung into action and wrote a poem And it was miserable, for that was how I thought Poetry worked: you digested experience
Dire Cure
“First, do no harm,” the Hippocratic Oath begins, but before she might enjoy Such balm, the docs had to harm her tumor. It was large, rare, and so anomalous In its behavior that at
A Poetry Reading At West Point
I read to the entire plebe class, In two batches. Twice the hall filled With bodies dressed alike, each toting A copy of my book. What would my Shrink say, if I had one,
Poem (The lump of coal my parents teased)
The lump of coal my parents teased I’d find in my Christmas stocking Turned out each year to be an orange, For I was their sunshine. Now I have one C. gave me, A
On The Porch At The Frost Place, Franconia, N. H
So here the great man stood, Fermenting malice and poems We have to be nearly as fierce Against ourselves as he Not to misread by their disguises. Blue in dawn haze, the tamarack Across
Misgivings
“Perhaps you’ll tire of me,” muses My love, although she’s like a great city To me, or a park that finds new Ways to wear each flounce of light And investiture of weather. Soil
No Return
I like divorce. I love to compose Letters of resignation; now and then I send one in and leave in a lemon- Hued Huff or a Snit with four on the floor. Do you
The Blues
What did I think, a storm clutching a clarinet And boarding a downtown bus, headed for lessons? I had pieces to learn by heart, but at twelve You think the heart and memory are