Max Reif Poems

The slow burning of the leaves
prefigures the ripening of my soul.

Today the weather
...

I speak to you easily,
shadowy figure in my mmeory,
reliving all your picaresque adventures
pulled out as from a volume on a shelf,
...

My favorite one, from Italy,
showed a woman
with a whole, walled city
atop her head.
...

In the dead museum
obligation sits, rusting,
a suit of armor
we only just found out
...

Rescuers race to free trapped submarine,
Space shuttle undocks, heads for home,
Passenger jet goes down in sea off Sicily,
Hiroshima marks atomic bomb anniversary,
...

The train had come far toward its destination,
although the route was not the one he'd dreamed.
At first, yes: mountains, cities, oceans, friends.
Then, vast expanse of dusty, arid plains
...

A cup of chai,
An outdoor table
Sheltered from
The rain,
...

'I do solemnly swear
that I will faithfully execute
the office of President
of the United States,
...

I wrote it yesterday,
felt it stop the press of Time
till satisfaction,
sweet like after making love,
...

The sledge-hammer came down very early,
and I was shanghied into life.
I wake up at 58, thinking
'but I thought I was 21! '
...