Collecte Works (27 page)

In Leonardo's light

we questioned

the sun does not love

My hat

attained

the weight falls

I am at rest

You too

hold a doctorate

in Warmth

You are my friend—

you bring me peaches

and the high bush cranberry

                       you carry

my fishpole

you water my worms

you patch my boot

with your mending kit

               nothing in it

but my hand

Come In

                                  Glen Ellyn

Education, kindness

live here

whose dog does not impose

          her long nose

and barks quietly.

Serious wags its tail

—they see us—

from curtain tie-backs

        no knick-knacks

between us.

The men leave the car

to bring us green-white lilies

         by woods

These men are our woods

yet I grieve

I'm swamp

as against a large pine-spread—

his clear No marriage

           no marriage

friend

The wild and wavy event

now chintz at the window

was revolution…

Adams

to Miss Abigail Smith:

You have faults

You hang your head down

like a bulrush

you read, you write, you think

but I drink Madeira

to you

and you cross your Leggs

while sitting.

(Later:)

How are the children?

If in danger run to the woods.

Evergreen o evergreen

how faithful are your branches

FLORIDA

1

Always north of him

1 see

he's close

to orange, flower

roseate bird

soft air

the state

I'm in

2

Henry James

St. Augustine

they overplayed

its Spanish story

yet was this romance

that most solicited

him

3

Cape Canaveral

Space shot off

man appears normal

4

Flocks

of headkerchiefs

the plumed flamingo

gone

the vanity of women

slacked

My life is hung up

in the flood

         a wave-blurred

             portrait

Don't fall in love

with this face—

        it no longer exists

            in water

                     we cannot fish

Easter

A robin stood by my porch

       and side-eyed

              raised up

                      a worm