On the Style of a Certain "Decadent" Alexandrian

(after E.M. Forster’s famous description of C.P. Cavafy) 

Don’t look away, philistine—he looks 

To be bending 

His frame of reference slightly 

Aslant to the world’s 

Universal decadence. 

Quest

lost 

pilgrim 

finds

himself 

on 

godforsaken 

path

he 

calls 

progress 

Distance

—for Tom Clark 

I must tell you how

Under a clear afternoon sky, 

I sat under an umbrella 

Reading a friend’s book 

Of poems that had traveled 

Halfway round the world 

To end up here— 

In the evening, no umbrella, 

No moon in sight, no need to tell you 

How close the stars were that night. 

Bashô, There’s a Frog in My Throat

Dying to hear one 

Another’s croaking— 

Let’s jump in. 

Malady of the Squint-eyed Kid

Whatever has come over me?

My thinking’s cloudy, I cannot see—

On second thoughts, no use to think,

No use to see

Whatever it is,

It must be me.