1538

What probably made the walk-through
Such a non-event was the parka.

What probably made the walk-through
Such a non-event was the parka.

The chrome on the side of the treadmill
Hidden from view by other treadmills.

Chinatown, you copy?

The feeling of natural selection
Gave a Halloween knowingness
To being on the balcony.

The crab.

The vuilding up of stern strains.
Sternly straining to be clarified and minced.

Foam deeps pay some laundry to mitch up a wan periscope.

All the peanut butter sandwiches in Vermont
Couldn't mensch the Friday into a sputter.

I think that I will write a book called
All the Peanut Butter Sandwiches in Vermont.

Then Shakespeare leans out of a cloud,
With a used vhs tape of Home for the Holidays.

1537

When I remember all that strange activity,
The ritual sacrifice, the professional sports,
Checking the mail several times a day, it occurs.

I am excited to be the problem with exuberance
In art, it wakes up a drawbridgekeeper
Grinding his teeth at a dreamed light house man,

His father. (In fact his father made an art
Of being on the verge of fame his whole life.
Another time I'll saw you some diphthongs

Of exposition on said story.) Our lives,
How lucky they are to have us living them.
Likewise the shadows, the ingrates.

1536

Submerged in a biplane labeled "escape"
I'm libeled by the cabernet, a lighthouse brand
Of miscellaneous information about belonging
In the cumulus congestus, the word I.

Now the lateral sensation, is it yaw or pitch
That drops my question marks into a glamorous
Distance from the immense immediate push.
In any case, we're stitching a sampler

At a great variation from the morning.

1535

A POEM CALLED STOLEN

My slowest deeps,
The quacking
Of a firm element
In an hour otherwise
Judgment take,
Now the starshine
Bliss. I took the sled
Down the hill and brought
The light to an
Accelerator. It hurt
Me to let that lack
Of weight mean
Anything
For the fog gringos
Who "lord it"
Over the paystub mob.
Ne'ertheless, I
Smoked and smoked
Until the latin
For two-timer
Came back to me.

1534

MAKING LISTS

I know that what brings tears to my eyes
Is a duct. I'm casting about for the replacement
Experience, one that will find room
For hexagons, doubts, and the fragile roses,
Four or five to a stem.

1533

GRADUATION

Spots on the floor,
A long account of the relative success
Of each of the last five passers,
Cigar smoke and soap bubbles.

Leaning forward.

The noise clears and some children
Get up from the picnic blanket.

Wind gets in the microphone with the soloist,
And we're taking bets
On which Dr. Seuss book the salutatorian will quote.

Sunlight long and mellow
Down evacuated hallways.

1532

INMATES OF LOVE

Are not inmates of love.
Some miserable obligation
Is, in this case, impersonating
A nobler feeling. Not to say
They, the inmates, aren't jailed;
I'll take them at their word.

1531

THE ABSTRACTED UGLY DUCKLING

The words on the paper in the trash
Show me parallel poems.
The boss says push that brush.

I wake up, then I wake up.

Suddenly I realize
I don't know the first thing
About musical theater --

I'm moving as if on a conveyor belt.