William Matthews Time Poems
- 1. Drizzle
Baudelaire: 'The dead, the poor dead, have their bad hours.'
But the dead have no watches, no grief and no hours.
At first not smoking took all my time: I did it
... - 2. Eyes
the only parts of the body the same
size at birth as they'll always be.
'That's why all babies are beautiful,'
Thurber used to say as he grew
... - 3. 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
... - 4. Bedtime
Usually I stay up late, my time
alone. Tonight at 9o I can tell
I'm only awake long enough
to put my sons to bed.
... - 5. On The Porch At The Frost Place, Franconia, N. H.
So here the great man stood,
fermenting malice and poems
we have to be nearly as fierce
against ourselves as he
... - 6. A Poetry Reading At West Point
I read to the entire plebe class,
in two batches. Twice the hall filled
with bodies dressed alike, each toting
a copy of my book. What would my
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