PARTISAN REVIEW
Is that what you are? Or do you burn
As
my veins burn with ceaseless heat?
Whether you answer me or not,
Even at noon, the disguise I wear
Is the body and rags of legless Kronos
Before God walked the sky. Look at me and
his
shade
Turns boardwalk holidays into a mile
Of broken bottles and twisted iron
Seen through a gray window in the rain.
Give it your homage,
The shadow
is
always here. Now you may drop
Your money in my hat.
Harold Kaplan
CAPTAIN CONSCIENCE
What was left in love then
When the soft soprano sang
And kissed the brain and the fume
Of your constant cigarette and wine
Floated on limp spread of silkened leg,
There then finally the pang
And ultimate sweetness in the dark.
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