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SHOULD THE UNITED STATES BOMB IRAN?
The Shah, his second wife, and Churchill. Is it World War III yet? “One injustice may hide another—one colonial may hide another” Kenneth Koch, One Train May Hide Another On Trump’s recent visit to...
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YOU DON’T KNOW HOW IMPORTANT THIS IS
You don’t know how important this is. And I guess I don’t know either. I began this in the morning. How did the morning become covered in night? How does a speech transcend its occasion? A love must...
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MOZART, THE EARLY PIANO CONCERTI
He was not always on top of his summer reports. He regularly ran in the fields. There were forests, but the only spots He felt safe had man and beer Or the concert hall where princesses Gathered...
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SLEEPY
Coming out of, or going into, sleep Is paradise. Dreams from sleep are the dreams I keep. Sleep’s dreams are not the only benefits of sleep. When I approach my rest, the descent is steep, Reminding me...
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WORDLESS
How complex the world is! How many words would it take For a worldly man To say how complex? Start with: This Is more complex than that. I can Be ironic now, by being wordless. I will call my poem...
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THIS WANTS TO SAY GOODBYE
This wants to say goodbye. The momentum of goodbye Helps the poem falling towards dying. First, the trumpets (muted) and oboes start crying, Like birds, calling, and flying, As if they were almost far...
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WHAT DOES IT MEAN
What does it mean, that you and I are happy And the world despises us? We know how these stories always end, The loveless world wins again. In love, I cared about one— Until she left me for a million...
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POETRY VERSUS SHIT
“Upon the velvet sinking, linking fancy unto fancy” —The Raven Poetry has no impact, we think, at least Romantic poems Which slow down breathing. Reading the internet on Iran, They are mocking Trump...
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WHAT I PICK OUT
What I pick out Is nothing. There is doubt In every scene and look. This is not a photograph. Or a book. This is reality. And it frightens me so. There are too many choices. I don’t know Anything. Or...
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THE SAME
I want to live But I am not creative. So I find myself on a crowded train Going to my paper pushing job. Poetry for a Communist, Romantic Slob Is my life’s work, you could say. I’m not creative. The...
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AMERICA, VICTIM OF TERROR
The Shah of Iran survived an assassination attempt in 1949. JFK did not, in 1963. A HISTORY OF AMERICAN FRIENDSHIPS In 1776, France was friendly with the United States. But France invaded Mexico,...
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I LOOK AT YOUR POEMS
I look at your poems. I don’t read them. I know you too well to have a conversation With you. It’s probably deeply insulting That I don’t need to unravel you. I always found You extremely attractive....
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IF IT’S NOT TO MY ADVANTAGE
If it’s not to my advantage, it doesn’t exist. This is my first natural right— Which I cling to with all my might. When I was two, a two year old girl Punched me in the face; Nor was this a lesson in...
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WHEN THE WORLD IS LESS FAR-FLUNG
When the world is less far-flung, We will not miss each other At the next street corner, A minute or a mile, this way or that. There won’t be long pauses Before I say great things with my tongue To...
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WE BUILD
Religion is not hard to ape. Let’s say I’m God. Let’s say you can’t escape Your memories. You can’t. Even what you don’t remember will hurt you. The rituals I perform, you perform, The moment we...
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POETRY MAGAZINE’S INDIA ISSUE, JULY/AUGUST 2019
Poetry’s India issue is not an India issue. In the globalist introduction by editors Kazim Ali and Rajiv Mohabir, we are told countries do not exist; only colonies and far-flung sub-cultures do. In...
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OF COURSE YOU MATTER TO THE POET
When the modern poet complains of his isolation From normal, bourgeois society, he complains in vain. Money, computers, banks, convenient stores, traffic, trains, Parking lots, sidewalks, novels at...
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KINDNESS SOME OF THE TIME
Kindness some of the time Is not kind. It is true that this rhyme Says she is blind— Even as I praise her eyes. Can kindness be a disguise? It certainly can. A woman naturally does not trust a man....
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THE WORLD IS TOO BIG AND WAR IS TOO SMALL
Your friend who is quietly smarter than you Doesn’t want to argue. Look At this map. If a war takes place here, You will be left out. It’s not even close. No one wants to fight for you; They will try...
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YOUTH IS ALWAYS RIGHT
Youth is always right. Age is always wrong. There is nothing at the end of the song But what was wrong in the beginning. Youth sighs. Age calls it sinning. Age thinks to make a song to preserve...
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