1624
In 1974 it was fashionable to worry,
She puts down her brandy and hatbox
And she says, "Hunger is coming
"Conclude from this as little as you can."
In a deserted corner near architecture
But don't register any complaint
When she turns the lens of the class toward me,
In a box marked "crafts" is the new one.
Better than the light that likes her eyes
Is what the stretched foot implies.
1623
In my heart there is a classroom where
You know, the Neville Chamberlain act,
And she says, "Hunger is to remind us
Gravity wants to be when it grows up."
In the middle of a tootsie roll pop
But he feels a spark of love
When he hears the sound, he holds still
Up two shelves for her hat.
The road stretches forward into the trees
Without a thought for the skin of knees.
1622
In the hallway by the law school library
Novels and short stories are about love,
And she says, "Hunger is not the least
The way irritation provokes invention."
In books we admire words like swanlight
But far from art history occurs a kiss.
When all of a sudden I want to put my arms
Under it, careful of avalanches.
And yet I'm too shy to stretch out a tentacle --
The room is down the hall from the left ventricle.
1618
POEMS ON CIGARETTES
I’ve gotten, you’ll be pleased to know,
Over my notebook fetish. Now I write
Poems on cigarettes, four lines long.
They end where they start, like compliments
*
You want to use lipstick --
Pencil tears the paper
And fountain pens bleed black.
Each poem burns like a kiss
*
The meaning of hurting yourself
Is turning every feeling upside down
What it takes to get me into town
And up on stage to reexplain
*
A friend who didn’t want to quit
Gave me the haiku he’d inked
On hard pack inserts. I still don’t get
Why slap the box into the hand
*
The city doesn’t feel like crying
And the dry cleaners have survived.
Still I find signs saying: Donate
Your butts to Mayor Bloomberg
1617
In Raymond Queneau's analysis,
Novels and short stories are about love,
And, as he says, "Hunger is real life."
Separate, incomparable urgencies.
In books we admire words like swanlight
But try and pay for dinner with a poem --
When the owner comes to discuss the matter
Under the grass canopy, offer to wash dish.
The truth, though often mentioned at the bookie's,
Is best left aside for arguments among rookies.
1616
In the hallway by the law school library
They gather after two to vend a dinner
And she says, "Hunger is what got me here,
I wonder where I'll let it take me next."
In the wash-sound dark, they scan the racks
But find nothing awful enough behind glass
When they drop their quarters to rank
Above Japanese can coffee and boxed burgers.
The eureka-feeling lighting up the carels
The lonely erotics of fish and barrels.
1615
In any event I've lost access to yes,
You know, the Neville Chamberlain act,
And she says, "Hunger is not the least
Popular compulsion toward compromise."
In the middle of a tootsie roll pop
But not up to computing some factorials
When all of a sudden I want to put my arms
Around the source of my distraction.
The smoke clears, revealing a pipe;
If not for the Lord, then to believe hype?
1614
In my eagerness to manufacture delight
I neglect to attend to ordinary chores
And she says, "Hunger is exactly what
Gravity wants to be when it grows up."
In any other line of work it'd be amusing
But in the poetry business it's so common,
When that retrospective feeling comes
Over one of us goons, to plead the muse.
Pay your bills in a timely fashion
And you may yet enjoy some passion.