The plant etched on the wall sits in its pot
as calm as anything—
as any thing not

The thread of the story fell to the ground, so I went down on my hands and knees to hunt for it. This was at one of those patriotic celebrations, and all I saw were imported shoes and jackboots.

Many children’s games depend on a physical handicap. Hopscotch, for ­example, requires a skillful player to hop from square to square on one leg while the other merely dangles in the air, as though amputated so long ago he had time to practice jumping without it.

The women examined you with furrowed brows, looking as though they had been toasted by years of sun.

A man was able to get hold of all the laughter in the world, and he packed it tightly and locked it up in his house, and hid the key.

This is the one that will outlive us all
With her head in the same duster and her small
Mouth maybe puckering in a bit more

Last night with our minds still in cold April
in the late evening we watched the river
heavy with the hard rains of the recent spring

When you were born
I was a small child in a bad time
and even if somebody had brought me news of you
I might not have believed them

Once a child's poem began a pond of time
what followed must have flowed from what a child

 When they start to wear your clothes
do their dreams become more like yours
who do they look like