Cover
Click image to order
Never miss a post
Your email address:*
Name: 
Please enter all required fields
Correct invalid entries

Categories

« Knott as a Stranger: "Why Can't I Just Write My Crummy Poems?" | Main | "What's Happening": David Shapiro in memory of Kenneth Koch »

February 18, 2022

Comments

Archie Ammons would have liked this poem, I think. It's wise in moderation as if he'd written it himself. ". . . but wisdom says don't go too far." Just get home quickly.

I hope he would've. Thanks, Anne.

Fall 1965: Newly arrived

We entered the glowing chestnut-clad room,
noises of a party beyond.

At the edge of a screen
set up to hide the growing pile of coats,
was a tall, rusty-haired man
trying to look like a coat, recently left.

I slipped off mine and stood next to him:
a soft shouldered man,armored by a V neck sweater
under a soft jacket
in a room of dark-suited men whose clothing
announced, pronounced even, their eagerness.

'I'm Archie,' he said quietly as I stood close.
'Carol,' I answered, my shoulder lightly touching just below his elbow
We stood together, comfortable strangers
exchanging words in our entante cordiale,
at the edge of a swirl of earnest conversations.

Later, Phyllis appeared to take Archie home.

Verify your Comment

Previewing your Comment

This is only a preview. Your comment has not yet been posted.

Working...
Your comment could not be posted. Error type:
Your comment has been posted. Post another comment

The letters and numbers you entered did not match the image. Please try again.

As a final step before posting your comment, enter the letters and numbers you see in the image below. This prevents automated programs from posting comments.

Having trouble reading this image? View an alternate.

Working...

Post a comment

Your Information

(Name and email address are required. Email address will not be displayed with the comment.)

Cover
click image to order your copy
That Ship Has Sailed
Click image to order
BAP ad
Cover
"Lively and affectionate" Publishers Weekly

Radio

I left it
on when I
left the house
for the pleasure
of coming back
ten hours later
to the greatness
of Teddy Wilson
"After You've Gone"
on the piano
in the corner
of the bedroom
as I enter
in the dark


from New and Selected Poems by David Lehman

StatCounter

  • StatCounter