my last duchess

That's my last duchess painted on the wall,
Looking as if she were alive. I call
That piece a wonder, now: Fr

i live in the twentieth century

I live in the Twentieth Century
and you lie here beside me. You
were unhappy when you fell asleep.
there was nothing I could do about
it. I felt helpless. Your face
is so beautiful that I cannot stop
to describe it, and there's nothing
I can do to make you happy while
you sleep.

love's not the way to treat a friend

Love's not the way to treat a friend.
There are so many better things for you
than to see your feelings sold
as magic lanterns to somebody whose body
casts no light.

der einsame / the lonely (man)

Der Einsame

Wie einer, der auf fremden Meeren fuhr,
so bin ich bei den ewig Einheimischen;
die vollen Tage stehn auf ihren Tischen,
mir aber ist die Ferne voll Figur.

In mein Gesicht reicht eine Welt herein,
die vielleicht unbewohnt ist wie ein Mond,
sie aber lassen kein Gef

not always, but enough

I let my adolescence go for a twenty pound note.
We were skint and needed to feed the meter.

Can I forgive my mother for simply not being there?
My best friend's dad offered me a lift, his headlights

decking the puddles. I just got in. No questions asked.
My coat was wet …

ciudad sin sue

No duerme nadie por el cielo. Nadie, nadie.
No duerme nadie.
Las criaturas de la luna huelen y rondan sus caba

the perfect hipster accessory - 22

You've got the sexy, shaggy, unkempt greasy-but-not-too-gross hair.
You've got flawless skin so pale that you glow in the dark. You've got
the ironic vintage shirt, the shabby corduroy blazer and the chic
designer jeans. You've got the carefully beat-up Chucks. You've got …

the eel

In the crowded yard, in the oily blue smoke
Of an eel supper, the eel looks on.

He is home for the summer. She is home for the summer,
Metamorphosing, the one in the other,

Androgynous, ambivalent, slipping in and out
Of the local, the universal,

Reading about itself, in the …

speedy gonzalez: an appreciation

The mouse was brown. And I was brown.
He was a Gonzalez. And I was a Gonz

numbers

I like the generosity of numbers.
The way, for example,
they are willing to count
anything or anyone:
two pickles, one door to the room,
eight dancers dressed as swans.

I like the domesticity of addition-
add two cups of milk and stir-
the sense of plenty: six plums
on the …

thank you

I used to lie in bed,
imagining the universe
but it never fitted

in my head. Now
you are gone
and the universe

fits nicely.

ye white antarctic birds

Ye white antarctic birds of upper 57th street,
you gallery of white antarctic birds, you
street with white antarctic birds and
cabs and white antarctic birds you street,
ye and you the street and birds I walk upon
the galleries of streets and birds and longings.
you the birds …

frida to sharanya

Sleep wherever is most convenient for you.
Whoever and whatever is left in the morning,
take home. Be kind. All the world is yours for
the taking, long as you know that your little heart is
theirs for the breaking. Leave lipstick on their
china and on your letters. Make sure …

bitch session

I was sitting in the livingroom chatting with you, in the firelight,
Reading, on the couch, on a rant, chatting, but it was you
In the living-room, chatting in the firelight and ranting, at it,
O, at no one in particular, at no one -- O,

It was no one in particular in the …

after a god

The man I love most says one day
he will take a ballpoint pen and connect
the stars across this freckled
scoop of chest and milky way.
We'll cross the slope
of pale belly and name
the new constellation after a god
who shows people
all the places they might shine.

between you and me

The password is still bird, folded wings unfurling against the damp
             inside of your mouth.

Open up in there.

I won't speak of the last time I was sure
that wasn't your …

the widow of baghdad

After another funeral
the widow removes her black dress
and turns it over to darkness

where

it hangs itself in the corner of the room.

Turning to look into her mirror
She discovers a lump in her breast--
A bomb resting in her hands

In Baghdad even soft things explode.

A …

les chats / cats

Les amoureux fervents et les savants aust

morning

I've got to tell you
how I love you always
I think of it on grey
mornings with death

in my mouth the tea
is never hot enough
then and the cigarette
dry the maroon robe

chills me I need you
and look out the window
at the noiseless snow

At night on the dock
the buses glow like
clouds …

since feeling is first

since feeling is first
who pays any attention
to the syntax of things
will never wholly kiss you;
wholly to be a fool
while Spring is in the world

my blood approves,
and kisses are a better fate
than wisdom
lady i swear by all flowers. Don't cry
--the best gesture of my brain is …