When the roof gave, they
raked up the mosaic
and sold it by the kilo sack.

The sisters are waiting
in the trophy room: Belinda
and Ducky. The morning

Cheapest gas for miles around.
One VW bug, two pickups & a 4x4
nudge for position,

First, pick up chicken, rock back
& forth, back & forth, then set down.

It is true, as I have implied, that everyone should give up his mission, whether it’s to save the world, as mine always has been, or to live the life of a Don Juan.

I gave up some of my bitterness. Let me tell you why.

It was a pretty boat, tied to the pier,
greeting a city with streets of water,
the great gold griffin of its tall smokestack

I go for silence
to the rear of my closet.
I’m safe from sound there.

Three powerful people
seized me, held me at gunpoint,
and demanded answers. They didn’t want money.

The poets are dead, the city dying.
Anne, Sylvia, Keats
with his passionate lungs,