Roni Margulies Poems

One day a few months ago
an old woman appeared
at the entrance of the underground station.
She was begging.
...

My first plane ride, how can I forget it.
We showed our tickets and exited the gate,
my grandad on one side, my mum on the other,
a blue bus came along, then left us
...

The spear thrust in front of the pavilion
announced that the Khan was seriously ill.
First, and most importantly, among his four sons
...

The Canberra was to be put in a dry dock
to be dismantled and sold off piece by piece.
Just a few lines in the papers.
...

In English it's easy, just add an s
In Turkish too, ler or lar will do
But in Greek plural suffixes
always leave you in a fix
...

His father brought him to this monastery
and left him with the monks when he was eight.
Said he had to go, but would soon be back.
There is no one now left who recalls why,
...

It is the year nineteen sixty-five, I have
one hand in my granddad's and a balloon in the other.
Machka, the bus stop at Tashlik, clearly a cold winter's day.
...

With my respects to Thomas Hardy

Was there something, some day,
somewhere, some time, I could have said
which could have made it all otherwise?
...

6. Neil Armstrong

We've brought 20 kilos of moonstone back.
They're being analysed in detail still.
...

Among the grass of Rembrandtpark
a flash of colour shone in the sun
and caught my eye,
...