Monet Refuses the Operation
Doctor, you say there are no haloes
around the streetlights in Paris
and what I see is an aberration . . .
Doctor, you say there are no haloes
around the streetlights in Paris
and what I see is an aberration . . .
The moon now rises to her absolute rule,
And the husbandman and hunter
Acknowledge her for their mistress. . . .
Sometimes I say I’m going to meet my sister at the café—
even though I have no sister—just because it’s such
a beautiful thing to say. I’ve always thought so, ever since . . .
The tortures of lumbago consumed Aunt Madge,
And Leah Vest, once resigned from schoolmarming,
Could not be convinced to leave the house, . . .
Lord’s lost Him His mockingbird,
His fancy warbler;
Satan sweet-talked her, . . .
I have studied the tight curls on the back of your neck
moving away from me
beyond anger or failure . . .
The mower stalled, twice; kneeling, I found
A hedgehog jammed up against the blades,
Killed. It had been in the long grass. . . .
Wake up,
you’ll need your wits about you.
This is not a dream,
. . .
You are sitting in Mrs. Caldera’s kitchen,
you are sipping a glass of lemonade
and trying not to be too curious about . . .
Mr. Kessler, you know, was in the army,
And he drew six dollars a month as a pension,
And stood on the corner talking politics, . . .