A Train

The next person who tells me I should write a book, I will stab. I regularly think of dumping all the extant printouts of books I’m working on in the recycling. This isn’t quite dramatic enough, though. I do that all the time, anyway, mark up hard copies, make the corrections, recycle the pages. Then […]

Planes

Close planes (toys, ideas) far planes (so minor do you mind) and seagulls, the size between, they go as gentlemen no one rushes them, in and out of dens, no one holds them up, with sticks, no one hung them there, on invisible lines, wheels tucked, feet tucked, pasted on the same air the only air we have, […]

Gambling

This is an apocryphal story in my family: a dad took his family to New York, saw a guy with the cards on a card table on the street, said, “I can do this!” and lost all their trip money in four minutes. Three card monte. “You have a lovely voice,” said the woman to […]

The Sweetness of Venus

Last week I sat at a table with one of my students, I asked what she wanted to do first, she said, “Let’s read these poems.” I said, “I like to read poems three times.” This isn’t true, I much prefer to read things once, like a slob, but I have accepted the wisdom of […]