Collecte Works (29 page)

And don't be afraid

to pour wine over cabbage

Ah your face

but it's whether

you can keep me warm

Alcoholic dream

that ran him

             out from home

                    to return

leaning

like the house

in this old part

         of town leaves him

              grieving:

why

do I hurt you

whom I love?

    Your ear

          is cold!—here,

drink

To my pres-
sure pump

I've been free

        with less

              and clean

I plumbed for principles

Now I'm jet-bound

by faucet   shower

heater   valve

ring seal   service

cost to my little

      humming

            water

                   bird

Laundromat

Casual, sudsy

social love

at the tubs

After all, ecstasy

can't be constant

March

Bird feeder's

         snow-cap

                sliding

                          off

Something in the water

like a flower

will devour

water

flower

Santayana's

For heaven's sake, dear Cory,

poetry?—I like somewhat

the putrid Petrarch

and the miserable Milton.

I don't have books,

don't meet important persons

only an occasional stray student

or an old Boston lady.

If only my friend

would return

and remove the leaves

                from my eaves

troughs

                        Frog noise

                        suddenly stops

Listen!

They turned off

their lights

In the transcendence

of convalescence

the translation

of Bash

…

I lay down

         with brilliance

I saw a star whistle

         across the sky

before dropping off