William Marr

April arrived
with a message on my desk
'Call Mr. Lyon—
Urgent! ! ! '
...

Roaming somewhere in the universe
a clang from an anvil
or a hollow resonance from the woods
is yet to reach me
...

Many would take it
as the midway station to heaven
nineteen hundred miles up
can heaven be far away?
...

Standing on top of a skyscraper
one can no doubt pick the stars with ease
yet from here it seems more likely
that the stars descend from the sky themselves
...

Even the shadows
are dried to the bone
their whiskers sparse and brown
...

Now that she is middle-aged, my wife
likes to stand before the window
and comb her hair
...

Retirement

At last
he can call
...

the sky has become dizzy
holding its breath
watching
...

with wings
anywhere can be home

yet all these starving refugees can do
...

Lying magnificently in the nest
the two blue eggs, still radiant
with the mother's warmth
must have been hidden by God
...

It most likely was blown here
last fall, from some faraway place
an immigrant of a sort
yet it now produces
...

A block of marble
and twenty six letters of the alphabet
etch so many young names
onto history
...

After frittering away the remaining afternoon
I walk up to the window many times
to see if the sky holds any last surprise
...

On the stage
of glistening light of waves
a graceful queen in black gown
emerges
...

1
The drenched
vacation
turns languorously
...

From white to brown to green to blue to red to purple
you dazzle us with your fast-moving dance
making heaven and earth dizzy
...

Shakespeare's quill has spent its ink
actors shuffle and shift
waiting impatiently to go on stage
here and there we hear chirps of birds
...

Even God is weary
of the day-after-day
repetitions
and becomes a deconstructive
...

fire-burned water-soaked
rain-beaten wind-swiped
this little shiny pebble
lies on a sunlit road
...

Walking in the streets
he suddenly realizes
last night's masquerade
is still going on
...