Gargoyles by Lucien Stryk (1927-) Hungry-eyed fogies gargoyles in full cry above the ruck and tumble of the street. They stare through shadows at a first-class loser, failed at selling shoes, flunked waiting tables, freaked out at knocking holes through cellar walls for slumlord hovels, scratched through flea-bitten nights in far-off […]
The Identification, by Roger McGough (1937-) So you think its Stephen? Then I’d best make sure Be on the safe side as it were. Ah, there’s been a mistake. The hair you see, it’s black, now Stephen’s fair … What’s that? The explosion? Of course, burnt black. Silly of me. I should have known. Then […]
jingoism, by bill shields I never wore a yellow ribbon & I’ve bled for this country no flag either or “WELCOME HOME HEROES” bumper sticker on my car I can’t find one good thing to say about American teen-agers firing extremely high-tech weaponry against a virtually unarmed enemy A parade for our heroes? A parade […]
Courage, by Anne Sexton (1928-1974) It is in the small things we see it. The child’s first step, as awesome as an earthquake. The first time you rode a bike, wallowing up the sidewalk. The first spanking when your heart went on a journey all alone. When they called you crybaby or poor or fatty […]
On The Birth Of A Son, by Su Tung-Po, also known as Su Shi (1037-1101) Families when a child is born Hope it will turn out intelligent. I, through intelligence Having wrecked my whole life, Only hope that the baby will prove Ignorant and stupid. Then he’ll be happy all his days And grow into […]
The Obligation to be Happy, by Linda Pastan (1932-) It is more onerous than the rites of beauty or housework, harder than love. But you expect it of me casually, the way you expect the sun to come up, not in spite of rain or clouds but because of them. And so I smile, as […]
Grenoble Cafe, by Jean Garrigue (1914-1972) At breakfast they are sober, subdued. It is early. They have not much to say Or with declamations fit only for whisper Keep under pressure the steam of their joy. She listens, usually. It is he who talks, Surrounding her with the furious smoke Of his looking that […]
Elegy Written in a County Churchyard, by Thomas Gray (1716-1771) The curfew tolls the knell of parting day, The lowing herd wind slowly o’er the lea, The plowman homeward plods his weary way, And leaves the world to darkness and to me. Now fades the glimm’ring landscape on the sight, And all the air […]
To the Sour Reader, by Robert Herrick (1591-1674) If thou dislik’st the piece thou light’st on first, Think that of all that I have writ the worst; But if thou read’st my book unto the end, And still dost this and that verse reprehend, O perverse man! If all disgustful be, The extreme scab take […]
“What Do Women Want?”, by Kim Addonizio (1954-) I want a red dress. I want it flimsy and cheap, I want it too tight, I want to wear it until someone tears it off me. I want it sleeveless and backless, this dress, so no one has to guess what’s underneath. I want to walk […]