Poetry
Love Story The penalty for desertion is death by a firing squad. I’m saving you this trouble enclosed is a pistol. loaded with only one bullet. squeeze the trigger once. perhaps nothing will happen. but …
Imagining Defeat She woke me up at dawn, her suitcase like a little brown dog at her heels. I sat up and looked out the window at the snow falling in the stand of blackjack …
September Song born 19.6.32 - deported 24.9.42 Undesirable you may have been, untouchable you were not. Not forgotten or passed over at the proper time. As estimated, you died. Things marched, sufficient, to that end. …
Ars Amoris Speak to her heart! That manic force When wits depart Forbids remorse. Dream with her dreaming Until her lus t Seems to her seeming An act of trust! Do without doing! Love’s wilful …
NEVERMORE My steps are heavy this early morning, head throbbing, muscles tight. Above me, dark clouds with slumped shoulders release tears into steel-grey Mission Bay. I pass a few people, heads bowed, sluggish pace, a …
After Many Years “Best to react to sorrowful things in sorrow”— The answer Peter, a new acquaintance, gave, Quoting I don’t remember whom. Iced tea, Brought out by Peter’s wife, the August sun We sat …
At the San Francisco Airport To my daughter, 1954 This is the terminal: the light Gives perfect vision, false and hard; The metal glitters, deep and bright. Great planes are waiting in the yard— They …
August There were four apples on the bough, Half gold half red, that one might know The blood was ripe inside the core; The color of the leaves was more Like stems of yellow corn …
Swollen Land Fingers crack beneath the soles of my feet Delicate bliss seeps out from the tips. The cactus taunts me. There will be no running. My lips will splinter and bleed, But I will …
A Supermarket in California What thoughts I have of you tonight, Walt Whitman, for I walked down the sidestreets under the trees with a headache self-conscious looking at the full moon. In my hungry fatigue, …
Summer Stars Bend low again, night of summer stars. So near you are, sky of summer stars, So near, a long-arm man can pick off stars, Pick off what he wants in the sky bowl, …
I Hear America Singing I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear, Those of mechanics, each one singing his as it should be blithe and strong, The carpenter singing his as he measures his …
Summer Sun Great is the sun, and wide he goes Through empty heaven with repose; And in the blue and glowing days More thick than rain he showers his rays. Though closer still the blinds …
Summer’s last party The boy bounces a pebble off his teeth *** Summer dies humid one new note in the klaxon on the fire engine *** Maid in doorway rocked back on bare heels from …
Tea Ceremony —East Village, NYC You and I lived on this street once – we are a we still death’s not parted. Boy! the banks have moved in you can barely see the moon. “Large …
June Nights In summer, when day has fled, the plain covered with flowers Pours out far away an intoxicating scent; Eyes shut, ears half open to noises, We only half sleep in a transparent slumber. …