“This Is Just To Say”

I have eaten,
the plums
that were in
the icebox
specifically
between the milk and cheese
the block of cheddar and the 2% milk, to be exact

and which
you were probably
saving,
reserving,
sparing,
keeping,
economizing
for breakfast

Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet,
and so cold
but not too cold
just the right amount
of cold
where it’s refreshing
but doesn’t make
your teeth hurt
afterwards

“The Red Wheelbarrow”

so much depends
upon

a red wheel
barrow

I guess it could
be green
or blue
or orange

I’ve never seen
an orange wheelbarrow
but it could work
in a pinch

glazed with rain
water

rain being
like snow but warm

or
like a more wet
version of hale

beside the white
chickens

who are great but
always freak out
when you go

to collect eggs
and it’s like
relax

I’m just here
for eggs

“Arrival”

And yet one arrives somehow,
finds himself loosening the hooks
all the hooks
so many hooks
big bunch of hooks
of her dress
in a strange bedroom—
feels the autumn
which is the season
in between summer and winter
dropping its silk leaves
about her ankles.
ankles being
the bony things
that connect your legs
to your feet
The tawdry veined body emerges,
twisted upon itself
like a pretzel
but like
a sexy pretzel or
like a winter wind
if the winter wind
was naked
and twisty
again, like
a sexy pretzel

“Landscape with the Fall of Icarus”

According to Brueghel
when Icarus fell
it was spring
warm enough where
you don’t need
a big scarf
but you probably
still need a
light jacket
especially since it gets cool
at night

a farmer was ploughing
his field
which is the act of
loosening or turning soil
which makes it better
for planting things
anyway
the whole pageantry

of the year was
awake tingling
near

the edge of the sea
concerned
with itself
it was a very
self-centered sea
egotistical sea
narcissistic, perhaps

sweating in the sun
that melted
the wings’ wax
the wings
of Icarus of course
Icarus’ wax wings
that were made for him
so he could fly
like a bird
a bird whose wings
were made of wax though
I have to stress that
these wings
weren’t made of like
feathers
or bone and tissue
or materials that
would be fine
if they got
slightly warm
these wings
were definitely
100%
wax

insignificantly
off the coast
there was

a splash quite unnoticed
this was
Icarus drowning
because his wings melted
from the heat of
the sun
which is a
hot fireball
in the sky
that is hot enough
to melt wings
made of wax