The.(Translation) . Poem by Michael Walker

The poem is typical of Muldoon's style: word play, conceits (images of opposites) , and opaque meaning. (I don't like the word 'pun' and use 'word play' instead) . Muldoon condenses a lot of meaning into few words-modernist and minimalist.
He was looking through 'tea-chest after tea-chest/as they drifted along in Key West', which must refer to galleons carrying tea-chests. He happened to see the book 'Pythagoras in America', which was left open at a ' book-mark/ of tea', like a tassel that marks page numbers in a Sunday missal for mass. It was 'a tea-bird's black tail-feather'.
All he has left in the house is some cooked squid and 'this unfortunate cup of tea. Take it. Drink'- an amusing conclusion. I would need no second invitation to drink a cup of tea.
I like the subtle humour in 'Tea'. It is deceptively simple.