C.D. Wright x 2

Lake Echo, Dear

Is the woman in the pool of light   

really reading or just staring   

at what is written

Is the man walking in the soft rain   

naked or is it the rain   

that makes his shirt transparent

The boy in the iron cot   

is he asleep or still

fingering the springs underneath

Did you honestly believe   

three lives could be complete

The bottle of green liquid   

on the sill is it real

The bottle on the peeling sill   

is it filled with green

Or is the liquid an illusion   

of fullness

How summer’s children turn   

into fish and rain softens men

How the elements of summer

nights bid us to get down with each other   

on the unplaned floor

And this feels painfully beautiful   

whether or not

it will change the world one drop

   ***

 

Personals

Some nights I sleep with my dress on. My teeth

are small and even. I don't get headaches.

Since 1971 or before, I have hunted a bench

where I could eat my pimento cheese in peace.

If this were Tennessee and across that river, Arkansas,

I'd meet you in West Memphis tonight. We could

have a big time. Danger, shoulder soft.

Do not lie or lean on me. I'm still trying to find a job

for which a simple machine isn't better suited.

I've seen people die of money. Look at Admiral Benbow. I wish

like certain fishes, we came equipped with light organs.

Which reminds me of a little known fact:

if we were going the speed of light, this dome

would be shrinking while we were gaining weight.

Isn't the road crooked and steep.

In this humidity, I make repairs by night. I'm not one

among millions who saw Monroe's face

in the moon. I go blank looking at that face.

If I could afford it I'd live in hotels. I won awards

in spelling and the Australian crawl. Long long ago.

Grandmother married a man named Ivan. The men called him

Eve. Stranger, to tell the truth, in dog years I am up there.

C.D. Wright