after Robert Hass All the new drinking is about loss. In this it resembles all the old drinking. The idea, for example, that each boilermaker erases the voluminous clarity of any idea. That the clown- teared sucker groping the beer-splotched top of that jukebox is, by just his presence, a someone falling sick in his…
for Kate Breathless, emerging into light, we stare with neighboring gargoyles over the square, so cool and blue, of Notre-Dame. Paris, 1969, your birthday: eight-year-old hand in mine. The city unfolds, fairy-tale spires rise to autumn sky, Sacré-Coeur flowers, white peony floating in space. I want this day to be as perfect as your face,…
Only one Disorderly Person was reported (No one cared enough to report me). Likewise, only one Noise Complaint (Can the whole village be deaf?). And, in an entire year, there was only one case of Indecent Exposure (Is no one paying attention?). Talk about breaking records, in all of 1989 there was only one Disturbed…
She had her feet in the trough, Nosing into the golden corn, When Daddy did a half spin & brought down the sledgehammer. She sank to the mud An oak branch bowed As they tightened the rope To a creaky song of pulley wheels. A few leaves left For the wind to whip down, They…
Open in the name of the law is spoken. This is now known to happen. Then the necessitous fist-fist against door. We slid from under and up from our divan (where viewmastering The 120 Days of Sodom, whistling rap versions of “The Internationale” while subliminally broadcasting passion wrists and paws extended, ready for the cuff,…
Their plans were to develop the valley, and my plans were to stop them. I was caretaking this ranch in Montana that the two of them had bought, or were buying. One of them was an alcoholic and the other was a realtor. The alcoholic-the big one-was from New York and did something on the…
Breakfast by the roadside, my vehicle shimmers like an opal. I'm hunched over a map, savoring the odor of burnt catfish. My carriage is a frisky nightflower on wheels. At this rest station I am careful not to cause injury to the heather, though organisms smaller than arithmetic routinely vaporize upon my approach. So even…
1 We stood so the day slanted Through our dime-store magnifying glass. Girls laughed & swayed, caught On the wild edge of our scent. A scorpion of sunlight crawled Each boy's arm, as we took turns Daring each other to flinch. Not Knowing what a girl's smile did, An oath stitched us to God. 2…
NYC, December 1990 He nose col's he ass but he don' know an' he ain' got no elbow t' practice tellin' things apart. Brass monkey-balls fallin' off— it so friggin' col’. I ain' got no snow-head: I c'n see whole town's in a hurry git t' where it's warm 'n' coffee 'n' hot things to…
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