You who have been to Venezuela, sailed
the Orinoco in a paddle-boat, 
the Lagoon of Maracaibo by canoe, 

From what facts you gave, or refrained from giving,
I have not quite been able to determine
whether a porch graces the girl’s aunt’s house

Stepping deftly to the jetty,
members of the boating party,
women in pearls, long skirts, cloche hats,

This could be Jeffrey Rosen’s car
or a poem about the night.

Only two can be riding in it.

One could as well have chosen
that life of supermarket carts
junked in the backyard,

I went this morning, this
white arc of year now nearly come whole here,
again to seek those sites

I want my beard
To be as long as
A road,

The eye must follow form, but from this height,
    I see how softly summer parries weight

The fishermen lug in their nets, the take’s
Too small, the natural’s shunted aside
For derricks busy recouping the wastes

All this was years ago, but how could I forget
the first thing I did when you finally left me
was grow distinctly unlike myself—so distinctly unlike