Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Just to Feel Human
A single apple grew on our tree, which
was some kind of miracle because it was a
pear tree. We walked around it scratching
our heads. "You want to eat it?" I asked
my wife. "I'd die first," she replied. We
went back into the house. I stood by the
kitchen window and stared at it. I thought
of Adam and Eve, but I didn't believe in Adam
and Eve. My wife said, "If you don't stop
staring at that stupid apple I'm going to go
out there and eat it." "So go," I said, "but
take your clothes off first, go naked." She
looked at me as if I were insane, and then
she started to undress, and so did I.
by James Tate
Thursday, July 15, 2010
When the Horses Gallop Away From Us, It's a Good Thing
I always find it strange—though I shouldn't—how creatures don't
---------care for us the way we care for them.
Horses, for instance, and chipmunks, and any bird you'd name.
Empathy's only a one-way street.
And that's all right, I've come to believe.
It sets us up for ultimate things,
It's a good lesson to have in your pocket when the Call comes to
-----call.
by Charles Wright
Slow Drag Blues
I don't believe in sex
after marriage.
---My wife does, just
not with me.
---I plead the Fifth
of whisky. I am close
to perfecting a theory
---of forgettability.
Grief a dog
---that keeps dogging me---
Good Grief,
---I say. It's me
he's teaching to beg---
my next anniversary
---is newspaper, yesterday's---
lining my cage---
---Tomorrow the day
I hope to learn to stay.
by Kevin Young
i've come again
like a new year
to crash the gate
of this old prison
i've come again
to break the teeth and claws
of this man-eating
monster we call life
i've come again
to puncture the
glory of the cosmos
who so mercilessly
destroys humans
i am the falcon
hunting down the birds
of black omen
before their flights
i gave my word
at the outset to
give my life
with no qualms
i pray to the Lord
to break my back
before i break my word
how do you dare to
let someone like me
intoxicated with love
enter your house
you must know better
if i enter
i'll break all this and
destroy all that
if the sheriff arrives
i'll throw the wine
in his face
if your gatekeeper
pulls my hand
i'll break his arm
if the heavens don't go round
to my heart's desire
i'll crush its wheels and
pull out its roots
you have set up
a colorful table
calling it life and
asked me to your feast
but punish me if
i enjoy myself
by Rumi
understudy
She just wants an understudy, a body
double for the days when she does
not feel like appearing in any of the roles
she has assumed and/or been assigned.
She places an ad in the paper. Wanted:
one wife, mother, daughter, neighbor,
friend. Live-in OK. Own car necessary.
No lines to memorize; everything ad-
libbed. No days off.
by Beverly Rollwagen