REDSTART
Yard brimming with worms and shoots,
my man sits next to me, radiant
on the bench, sneezing, allergic to even
the floorboards of spring, white-tongued
and confused. Shall I tell him the birds
have finally learned his language,
are gathering in remarkable numbers
above his head? Even the fence is happy
as they dip and sway who linger near,
whisper through sharp, flexible beaks
the songs of almost nothing, my husband's
dreams I have never mastered.
For years he has studied them
so well he can close his blue eyes,
like now, and whisper White-throated sparrow
Female redstart Golden-crowned kinglet
until they tumble home, our children, from school,
all red-cheeked and shoelace-broken, they fall
to the warmest day of grass, almost weep
beneath his hands with ease.
And I have learned enough, today, to linger too.
My enamored hands curl like nests near his heart.
. . .
SINGING TO THE ANSWER
heuristics: problem-solving procedures that often help though they cannot
guarantee success. One useful heuristic is working backward from the
solution: if the answer were known, what characteristics would it have to
have?
The answer to Arlene's dilemma will also taste good,
will never wear black, or discriminate against gluttons.
The answer to all her questions about life can fit in one hand.
The answer to her question will be sexually active.
You may be wondering about the question at this point.
The result of the equation would balance yet possess a certain asymmetry.
She can tell it to her family and they will love it too.
She can serve it to her friends, and they will feel resolved.
The answer is one she won't have to pretend she doesn't know.
The answer will resemble moments which have passed through
her like caravans since she's been born. But this answer will settle.
This answer will possess qualities of water, she's sure.
This answer will fall through her fingers like gold dust.
This answer will seem familiar, like something she forgot.
This answer will not be as imperious as an orgasm,
will feel good when her husband smooths it on her skin.
This answer will be so complete, so beautifully designed,
there would be room for the question to stay.
There will be no movie version of the answer,
though she could eat it in the dark and it would be sweet.
ARLENE FALLS IN LOVE WITH THE FEMALE SURREALIST PAINTERS
I.
In 1930's Paris women were urged by the state
to reproduce to replace the lost soldiers.
In between the crash and blare of the Wars,
Leonor Fini and Meret Oppenheim
wear masks to parties,
their unavailable, never-to-have-children bodies
bare beneath their robes.
On the canvases of the women surrealists:
children swoon in transport,
animals replace humans, with glee:
Carrington's feral multi-teated hyena
Tanning's grotesque little pug.
Women climax
in the arms of fish
willingly?
II.
Freud and the Marquis
welcome us onto their knees.
How do we
paint the men?
shrink them into goblins
reduce them to geometry
afford them the phallus of their dreams?
If we open the box
what do we do with the shit bubbling
up?
III.
Women choose rocks
as self-portrait, turn themselves into
trees, eggs, flames, minotaurs
anything but that rosy-tipped
nude who traffic-jams the museums.
IV.
If Dada destroyed art
and we all
are united against Beauty
what shall I do when the marvelous
lifts us into her lap
and kisses us silly?
V.
Breton and Dali wanted women
feral and naive
Coco envisioned edgy and black
jazz clubs
required cigarettes and beads
and the amputees watch
from their benches
VI.
Arlene is working so hard
to join us she sweats she gently
inches the fragrant
peach pit
into her sex
she likes this kind
of study
but she's afraid the image
is too beautiful
but just rest there for a moment
honey feeling strange
. . .
THE COUPLE TALKS ON THE DRIVE BACK FROM THE BEACH
"People have this idea that they have to like something or not..."
--Dr. Marvin Minsky
That fishy smell and the salt
are a problem, they just
would not be my choice.
And I'm not sure I really like
all that sun, it's so intense
and not truly good.
Now that you ask me I don't
know how I feel about lemons
versus limes .
I don't think the road people
should put out these mile markers
they are so depressing.
Did you notice the way
the sand on that beach
actually hurts your feet?
I know he can't help it but
I don't like the way our dog
licks himself down there.
I don't like his laugh at
all now his smile is gorgeous
and his wife laughs great.
Next summer I would like
to go someplace
we haven't gone before.
