- for Alan Acacia
- *
- “I can live by myself”
- meaning: alone.
- Meanwhile I work at my desk
- or walk to the river
- to watch in silence the waters.
- *
- With time to think
- I take a walk
- by railroad and blackberry
- —nothing against my wishes.
- *
- Stove, sink, and desk
- attend me. I have much to do.
- Sing a little thanks:
- no refrain and no complaint.
- *
- Writing at my desk
- I play each record until it plays me.
- I’ll stand no distraction
- from the words I take
- and make my own.
- *
- I chop kindling for the stove,
- then water my garden
- under heavy clouds,
- expecting many things.
- *
- I cycle to the market
- my hair blowing in brisk morning.
- The people on the sidewalks
- are to me like trees.
- *
- I dress like a soldier
- and to the shopkeeper
- my voice is low and gentle.
- How is she to know
- I am frightened by her beauty?
- *
- Alone I like to yell aloud my joy,
- my joy and my frustration.
- I play the piano like a maniac,
- minding no score.
- *
- The milk is alive
- to make itself yogurt
- by evening.
- I sit and watch my garden
- out the window
- doing, apparently, nothing.
- *
- I water my plants
- and trim them in the pots.
- They turn to the light—
- content with little.
- *
- i stand at the mirror
- and there I am a mass
- of light and balance,
- imagined as a still life.
- *
- I sit on the toilet
- and want to build a canoe
- to paddle in the sunset waters
- of the river.
- *
- In bed I read from a book
- a little each night
- a story of ambition and decadence,
- taking it and leaving it.