A Smile To Remember

we had goldfish and they circled around and around in the bowl on the table near the heavy drapes covering the picture window and my mother, always smiling, wanting us all to be happy, told me, 'be happy Henry! ' and she was right: it's better to be happy if you can but my father continued to beat her and me several times a week while raging inside his 6-foot-two frame because he couldn't understand what was attacking him from within.

Drunk As Drunk

Translated from the Spanish by Christopher Logue Drunk as drunk on turpentine From your open kisses, Your wet body wedged Between my wet body and the strake Of our boat that is made of flowers, Feasted, we guide it - our fingers Like tallows adorned with yellow metal - Over the sky's hot rim,

Silver

Slowly, silently, now the moon Walks the night in her silver shoon; This way, and that, she peers, and sees Silver fruit upon silver trees; One by one the casements catch Her beams beneath the silvery thatch; Couched in his kennel, like a log, With paws of silver sleeps the dog; From their shadowy cote the white breasts peep Of doves in silver feathered sleep

Love Is...

Love is... Love is feeling cold in the back of vans Love is a fanclub with only two fans Love is walking holding paintstained hands Love is.

Enigmas

You've asked me what the lobster is weaving there with his golden feet? I reply, the ocean knows this. You say, what is the ascidia waiting for in its transparent bell? What is it waiting for? I tell you it is waiting for time, like you. You ask me whom the Macrocystis alga hugs in its arms? Study, study it, at a certain hour, in a certain sea I know. You question me about the wicked tusk of the narwhal, and I reply by describing

You Fit Into Me

You fit into me like a hook into an eye a fish hook an open eye

A Red Palm

You're in this dream of cotton plants. You raise a hoe, swing, and the first weeds Fall with a sigh. You take another step, Chop, and the sigh comes again, Until you yourself are breathing that way With each step, a sigh that will follow you into town. That's hours later. The sun is a red blister Coming up in your palm. Your back is strong, Young, not yet the broken chair

In The Summer

In the summer I stretch out on the shore And think of you Had I told the sea What I felt for you, It would have left its shores, Its shells, Its fish, And followed me.

Teeth

English Teeth, English Teeth! Shining in the sun A part of British heritage Aye, each and every one. English Teeth, Happy Teeth! Always having fun Clamping down on bits of fish And sausages half done. English Teeth! HEROES' Teeth! Hear them click! and clack!

The Pobble Who Has No Toes

The Pobble who has no toes Had once as many as we; When they said "Some day you may lose them all;" He replied "Fish, fiddle-de-dee!" And his Aunt Jobiska made him drink Lavender water tinged with pink, For she said "The World in general knows There's nothing so good for a Pobble's toes!" The Pobble who has no toes

Wynken, Blynken, And Nod

Wynken, Blynken, and Nod one night Sailed off in a wooden shoe,-- Sailed on a river of crystal light Into a sea of dew. "Where are you going, and what do you wish?" The old moon asked the three. "We have come to fish for the herring-fish That live in this beautiful sea; Nets of silver and gold have we," Said Wynken,

‘march Days Return With Their Covert Light’

March days return with their covert light, and huge fish swim through the sky, vague earthly vapours progress in secret, things slip to silence one by one. Through fortuity, at this crisis of errant skies, you reunite the lives of the sea to that of fire, grey lurchings of the ship of winter to the form that love carved in the guitar. O love, O rose soaked by mermaids and spume, dancing flame that climbs the invisible stairway,

A Bush Lawyer

When Ironbark the turtle came to Anthony's lagoon The hills were hid behind a mist of equinoctal rain, The ripple of the rivulets was like a cheerful tune And wild companions waltzed among the grass as tall as grain. But Ironbark the turtle cared no whit for all of these; The ripple of the rivulets, the rustle of the trees Were only apple sauce to him, or just a piece of cheese. Now, Dan-di-dan the water rat was exquisitely dressed, For not a seal in Bass's Straits had half as fine a coat,

The Newcomer

'There's something new in the river,' The fish said as it swam. 'It's got no scales, no fins and no gills, And ignores the impassable dam.' 'There's something new in the trees.' I heard a bloated thrush sing. 'It's got no beak, no claws, and no feathers, And not even the ghost of a wing.'

Contagion

Elephants are contagious! Be careful how you tread. An Elephant that's been trodden on Should be confined to bed! Leopards are contagious too. Be careful tiny tots. They don't give you a temperature But lots and lots - of spots.

Did I Not Say To You

Did I not say to you, “Go not there, for I am your friend; in this mirage of annihilation I am the fountain of life? ” Even though in anger you depart a hundred thousand years from me, in the end you will come to me, for I am your goal. Did I not say to you, “Be not content with worldly forms, for I am the fashioner of the tabernacle of your contentment? ” Did I not say to you, “I am the sea and you are a single fish; go not to dry land, for I am your crystal sea? ” Did I not say to you, “ Go not like birds to the snare; come, for

Clearing At Dawn

The fields are chill, the sparse rain has stopped; The colours of Spring teem on every side. With leaping fish the blue pond is full; With singing thrushes the green boughs droop. The flowers of the field have dabbled their powdered cheeks; The mountain grasses are bent level at the waist. By the bamboo stream the last fragment of cloud Blown by the wind slowly scatters away. Li Po

Walking Across The Atlantic

I wait for the holiday crowd to clear the beach before stepping onto the first wave. Soon I am walking across the Atlantic thinking about Spain, checking for whales, waterspouts. I feel the water holding up my shifting weight. Tonight I will sleep on its rocking surface. But for now I try to imagine what

A Fishy Tale

I saw you twice the other day Stirring passion anew It's easy saying just move on Less easier to do Ive always said to others There's plenty more fish in the sea But some days it makes no difference How many fish there be

Gee, You're So Beautiful That It's Starting To Rain

Oh, Marcia, I want your long blonde beauty to be taught in high school, so kids will learn that God lives like music in the skin and sounds like a sunshine harpsicord. I want high school report cards to look like this: Playing with Gentle Glass Things A