My sidestepping and obliquities, unable
to take the obvious truth on any subject—
why do I do what I do not want to say?
When nothing matters, I ask—I never know.
Your rapier voice—I have had so much—
hundred words a minute, piercing and thrilling …
the invincible lifedrive of everything alive,
ringing down silver dollars with each word.…
Love wasn’t what went wrong, we kept our daughter;
what a good father is is no man’s boast—
to be still friends when we’re no longer children.…
Why am I talking from the top of my mouth?
I am talking to you transatlantic,
we’re almost talking in one another’s arms.