Silly


“You were silly
like us” said Auden in his elegy
to Yeats.

And who would want
to be like
that table-tapping,
ghost-sniffing,
shilling-poor
pound-foolish,
hangdog
lover loser?

Not me!
Unless, of course,
I had his willow wood
harp and could tune
its silver strings
with one hand
bound behind
my back.





​His Grandfather Clock


stood in the hall outside the room
where I was to spend the night,

He offered to silence the chiming
and clicking, but I said
no, I could never sleep

if he stopped the pendulum heart,
becalmed the painted clipper ship,
or kept the filigreed hands

from meeting and parting,
parting and meeting,
in the hall outside the room

where I was to spend the night.​




Creole


In the French Islands, you won’t know
whether someone is telling you a joke
or giving you directions to the liquor store

The words come down from masters
and overseers.

The diction comes over from Africa

I have studied Creole
but only learned a little:

Kreyon pep la pa gen gom:

‘There’s no eraser
on the People’s pencil.’