"
Late Breakfast
Red nails,
gold cigarette,
young pampered mouth,
hair drawn back,
a sense of having reached
her limits,
a perfect twenty-two.
There was a moment
when she chose all this.
I must begin again,
without shame.
Wailana Coffee Shop
Honolulu
Spring Dream of SueSue
Perfectly quiet
a trout lets me hold him.
You surface laughing,
dark hair,
blue shirt unbuttoned.
March
Lament For Paul
Scratching your beard, excited,
"Fantastic," you said about
the Beatles' new record.
The next night you played
your own shy songs, surprising us.
You were crushed beneath your car,
but your songs, Paul, I heard them.
We all heard them.
Woodstock
For Coyote
I think of you drinking, dancing,
unable to sleep, reading until first light,
a blanket drawn around your shoulders,
afternoons, working your wheel until
the time to mingle with true hearts,
raise glasses, hug, laugh,
help as you can.
We are all dying, slower or faster,
but it hurts to watch.
And out of the numb exuberant wreckage of your days
come these raku pots--
graceful open shapes, lines freely
scratched into the clay, deep turquoise,
copper glazes, extravagant, surprised,
too beautiful for tears.
Pages:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25