David Lehman Poems

When she says Margarita she means Daiquiri.
When she says quixotic she means mercurial.
And when she says, "I'll never speak to you again,"
she means, "Put your arms around me from behind
...

Ithaca, October 1993: Jorie went on a lingerie
tear, wanting to look like a moll
in a Chandler novel. Dinner, consisting of three parts gin
and one part lime juice cordial, was a prelude to her hair.
...

It's the day of the ram
and the head of the year
Rosh Ha'Shanah at
services I sat next to
...

Christmas defeated Chanukah
once again last night
by a margin of three billion dollars
or so, but every time I hear
...

If Ezra Pound were alive today
(and he is)
he'd be teaching
at a small college in the Pacific Northwest
...

Can't swim; uses credit cards and pills to combat
intolerable feelings of inadequacy;
Won't admit his dread of boredom, chief impulse behind
numerous marital infidelities;
...

What I propose is not
Marxism, which
is not dead yet in
the English department,
...

Light rain is falling in Central Park
but not on Upper Fifth Avenue or Central Park West
where sun and sky are yellow and blue
Winds are gusting on Washington Square
...

The happiest moment in a woman's life
Is when she hears the turn of her lover's key
In the lock, and pretends to be asleep
When he enters the room, trying to be
...

"He gave her class. She gave him sex."
-- Katharine Hepburn on Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers

He gave her money. She gave him head.
...