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
......
The sun has burst the sky
Because I love you
And the river its banks.
The sea laps the great rocks
Because I love you
And takes no heed of the moon dragging it away
And saying coldly 'Constancy is not for you'.
The blackbird fills the air
Because I love you
......
Why do you think you're better
If your culture is not the same?
Yes, maybe you seem different
But deep inside all are the same.
Why do they think they're better?
If one is black and one is white,
If one is man and one is woman.
They are the same, that is their right.
......
I was outside St. Cecelia's Rectory
smoking a cigarette when a goat appeared beside me.
It was mostly black and white, with a little reddish
brown here and there. When I started to walk away,
it followed. I was amused and delighted, but wondered
what the laws were on this kind of thing. There's
a leash law for dogs, but what about goats? People
smiled at me and admired the goat. "It's not my goat,"
I explained. "It's the town's goat. I'm just taking
my turn caring for it." "I didn't know we had a goat,"
......
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;
......