After spring snow, what they saw
After they have tired of the brilliance of cities
Afterwards they shall dance
And do they so?
And then they were none
And they call this living
And with what bodies do they come?
And yet they are knocking at your door
As they draw to a close
Could that sweet darkness where they dwell
Dark they were, and golden-eyed
Dead as they come
Don't they make you sad?
Down from another planet they have settled to mend
Fragments: They dine with the past
How they broke away to go to the Rootabaga Country
How they brought good news from Ghent to Aix
How they don't let Pocahontas into Heaven
How they got her to quiet down
How they took the town of Lungtungpen
If they come in the night
In Europe they grow a new bean while here
Last spring they came over
Let me tell you a story of how they met
Midsummer was it when they died.
Might these be thrushes climbing through almost (do they
Some dreams they forgot
Sometimes they come back
Still they call it marriage
That which is one they shear and make it twain
That's what they say
The day they burned the books
The day they eulogized Mahalia
The distances they keep
The fecund complaint they are not honored by
The flashing pigeons as they wheel
The morning of the day they did it
The test is, if they drown
The things they carried
They all want to play Hamlet
They are all gone into the world of light!
They are all in love
They desire a better country
They dream only of America
They flee from me
They say this isn't a poem
They say the sea is loveless
Things as they are
Where are they now?
Who are they?
MAY 2008