Take some Picts, Celts and Silures
And let them settle,
Then overrun them with Roman conquerors.
Remove the Romans after approximately 400 years
Add lots of Norman French to some
Angles, Saxons, Jutes and Vikings, then stir vigorously.
Mix some hot Chileans, cool Jamaicans, Dominicans,
Trinidadians and Bajans with some Ethiopians, Chinese,
......
I was hoping to be happy by seventeen.
School was a sharp check mark in the roll book,
An obnoxious tuba playing at noon because our team
Was going to win at night. The teachers were
Too close to dying to understand. The hallways
Stank of poor grades and unwashed hair. Thus,
A friend and I sat watching the water on Saturday,
Neither of us talking much, just warming ourselves
By hurling large rocks at the dusty ground
And feeling awful because San Francisco was a postcard
......
1.
Oh yes, friend! I'm crazy-
that's just the way I am.
2.
I see sounds,
I hear sights,
I taste smells,
I touch not heaven but things from the underworld,
things people do not believe exist,
......
This life is a hospital where every patient is possessed with the desire to change beds; one man would like to
suffer in front of the stove, and another believes that he would recover his health beside the window.
It always seems to me that I should feel well in the place where I am not, and this question of removal is one
which I discuss incessantly with my soul.
'Tell me, my soul, poor chilled soul, what do you think of going to live in Lisbon? It must be warm there, and there
you would invigorate yourself like a lizard. This city is on the sea-shore; they say that it is built of marble
and that the people there have such a hatred of vegetation that they uproot all the trees. There you have a landscape
that corresponds to your taste! a landscape made of light and mineral, and liquid to reflect them!'
My soul does not reply.
'Since you are so fond of stillness, coupled with the show of movement, would you like to settle in Holland,
......
For a Child of 1918
My grandfather said to me
as we sat on the wagon seat,
"Be sure to remember to always
speak to everyone you meet."
We met a stranger on foot.
My grandfather's whip tapped his hat.
"Good day, sir. Good day. A fine day."
......
in this molten hollow, crusted with land
overdue says the axis, manic spinning
round and about the magic gravity bond
there was barely a doubt in the eyes of the abyss
it gazes back when the word is said
quick, quick, the moment seeping quick
brushing—in bristles soft—our mystic time
each moment passing by, the fabric
layer stretching out into a platter: shine
presented on the altar of conscience
......
À minuit je fais le tour
avec les flèches sur l'horloge
et јe prie désespérément
avec des arêtes vives
pour éliminer toutes les douleurs accumulées
......
Ես կքողարկեմ քո կեղծ փայլը
Դու նստած ես իմ տեղում
Դու փայլում ես իմ լույսով
Սակայն, այնուամենայնիվ, դու դեռևս աստղ չես։
translated by Syuzanna Gevorgyan
I am from the old generation
I don't listen to rap
Because rap is not
My kind of music
I love all kinds of music
The new generation loves rap
When the new generation
Is in public
They put the rap music on
That is in their cellular phone
......
Joan Marlowe was eight years old, and loved the smiling, happy people;
As green pines love chattering redbirds, when an orange sun is gleeful.
And yet, when some found they were too busy, Joan petulantly pouted,
Like the creeping golden sunshine, dark blue-gray skies, once doubted.
Little Joan was outgoing and fun, the little girl that everyone wanted;
And often full of joyous smiles, like the rose, to which heart responded.
Fine feathered, fan-tailed cuckoos, passed sweet violet time, so slowly;
......