July 2, 2008: On the Street…Blue Dress, Paris

The tension between travel and home
Is embedded in all folklore:
Fairy tale woods beckon and enchant
And harbor wolves, witches.
Dorothy Gale is the patron saint of all
Who cling to home while
Sensing the magnetic pull of the road.
Even you. Think about the ache
in your chest that quivers
like a speedometer when you unfold
a map, when you watch
a train hurtle into some distant
sunset-coated place.

Thursday, July 2, 2009: The Lido with My Workshop Students, Venice

So often, water play involves pretend drowning
And rescuing. A cool hand on your shoulder
Pushes down, and you are submerged.
Under the ocean it sounds like a band is playing
In a nearby stadium, muffled percussion and
The crowd’s collective voice. When you burst
Into the heat of the air, coughing, your friends
Are laughing, I’ll save her, and you let them
Hold you, brace you between sea and sky.

Wednesday, July 1, 2009: On the Street…Light as Light, Paris

To Go Abroad

She found it reassuring that all this,
The stone streets, the weathered, marbled buildings,
All this was here before she lived,
Before her parents or their parents lived.
And had she never seen Paris,
The city would go on without her in its mix
Of refinement and slow decay;
Only a hairline fracture of sadness would have
Formed in her,
I wish I would have.

Tuesday, June 30, 2009: On the Street…Monotone, Paris

Shadow Puppets

Turn your fringe of four fingers horizontally,
Thumb bent in. Divide this in half, by stretching

The ring finger and pinky downwards. This is
The lower jaw of your creature, be it dog,

Alligator, stork.

Allow the light to sift through your digits,
And admire the charcoal profile that emerges

On the wall or tabletop, your stage. It can
Talk, eat, breathe; it only needs an inch.

Monday, June 29, 2009: On the Street…After the Show, Paris

How to Handle the Loveliness of Young Men

Especially if their looks tip toward prettiness—
Hair in a halo of curls, petal-smooth cheek,
Slim, pale wrists

Feel free to dip your words in the common dialect
of loveliness: angels, flowers,
Delicacy

Turn toward the person to your left and remark
How beautiful he is, or use
The word striking

For here, in the shaky subway car, amongst the crowds
And murky newspapers, his
Looks are agonizing

Friday, June 26, 2009: On the Street…Trench Tie, Milano

The Rules

King me, she said gleefully.
The clatter of checker on top of checker,
Her delight in playing by the rules
And winning. That’s what I remember.

Wednesday, June 25, 2008: On the Street…Via Tortona, Milano

Velcro

A fastening of innocence,
For children or the elderly.
A flap of teeth slapped against
Its fuzzy shadow. Simplicity

Defines Velcro: apart, together.
No allure of the button that ducks
Its opening without the wearer’s
Consent. Buttons get unstuck,

Noiselessly. Zippers announce their closure
Depending on the force applied—
A slide whistle. Metallic, secure,
Zippers catch fabric, are pried

Apart and broken, permanently.
Velcro is affixed to itself like a Band-aid.
By the time it weakens and grips loosely,
The clothing has been outgrown or mislaid.