For we have thought the larger thoughts
    And gone the shorter way.
And we have danced to devil's tunes,
    Shivering home to pray;
To serve one master in the night,
    Another in the day.

You remind me of someone else
From the kid who sat on my left at dinner
Tracing aimlessly the flowerly pattern
from the tablecloth, while I hear others' tea
in gargles, pretending I care for what is
missing in my own plate

Or the friend of a friend who showed me
Their favorite book, leaving no room to speak
Of the unknown
As for them loving one person in that room
was enough

To the sketch of the high mountains, crescent bow
And bright tiny dots above spotted from my window
at hours people forgets it's fine to wake up

You remind me of the warmth from the big hand
that squeezed mine last fall and the cold coming
from a band that touched my tender skin
You're in none of those stories, yet you got me to sigh
You are the details behind

the women of the past keep
phoning.
there was another yesterday
arrived from out of
state.
she wanted to see
me.
I told her
"no."

I don't want to see
them,
I won't see them.
it would be
awkward
gruesome and
useless.

I know some people who can
watch the same movie
more than
once.

not me.
once I know the
plot
once I know the
ending
whether it's happy or
unhappy or
just plain
dumb,
then

for me
that movie is
finished
forever
and that's why
I refuse
to let
any of my
old movies play
over and over again
for
years.

the house next door makes me
sad.
both man and wife rise early and
go to work.
they arrive home in early evening.
they have a young boy and a girl.
by 9 p.m. all the lights in the house
are out.
the next morning both man and
wife rise early again and go to
work.
they return in early evening.
By 9 p.m. all the lights are
out.

the house next door makes me
sad.
the people are nice people, I
like them.

but I feel them drowning.
and I can't save them.

they are surviving.
they are not
homeless.

but the price is
terrible.

sometimes during the day
I will look at the house
and the house will look at
me
and the house will
weep, yes, it does, I
feel it.