William Matthews Love Poems
- 1. Foul Shots: A Clinic
for Paul Levitt Be perpendicular to the basket,
toes avid for the line.
Already this description
... - 2. No Return
I like divorce. I love to compose
letters of resignation; now and then
I send one in and leave in a lemon-
hued Huff or a Snit with four on the floor.
... - 3. A Life Of Crime
Frail friends, I love you all!
Maybe that's the trouble,
storm in the eye of a storm.
Everyone wants too much.
... - 4. A Happy Childhood
My mother stands at the screen door, laughing.
â??Out out damn Spot,â? she commands our silly dog.
I wonder what this means. I rise into adult air
... - 5. Poem (the Lump Of Coal My Parents Teased)
The lump of coal my parents teased
I'd find in my Christmas stocking
turned out each year to be an orange,
for I was their sunshine.
... - 6. Dire Cure
"First, do no harm," the Hippocratic
Oath begins, but before she might enjoy
such balm, the docs had to harm her tumor.
It was large, rare, and so anomalous
... - 7. The Blues
What did I think, a storm clutching a clarinet
and boarding a downtown bus, headed for lessons?
I had pieces to learn by heart, but at twelve
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