Some Haphazard Notes after an Evening Storm

for William Meredith

After such rain the sunflowers stand

like mops. There were warnings of course;

a spinning weathervane, knuckled clouds

that flanked the harbor, the whole sky swaying

like a coat on a nail.

Now a small island

rests on water like a cheekbone; the sun

resting on the edge of land as on some

windowsill, closes up-a boxer's eye.

Soon the gulls return, hovering over like

divining rods, and the boatsman, tired

with such a stern faced evening,

sets his oars out like wings and glides.

THE ROOM

for Michael Panori

Reaching the room dark as a vestibule,

passengers of an extinct city, we

retreat from quibbling

corners, agree to

muster a believable fiction, not

dream of cities. In the dark light, alone

with our bulging words,

we cannot forget

Structure

24 lines · 7 stanzas