POEMS
CHARLES SIMIC
Romantic Sonnet
Evenings of sovereign clarity -
Wine and bread,
Mother praying,
Father naked in bed.
All the prisons had their doors thrown open .
Was I that skinny boy stretched out
In the tall grass,
His heart cut out with a toy knife?
Happiness, you are the bright red lining
Of a dark winter coat
Grief wears inside out.
This is about myself when I'm reminiscing,
And your morgue attendant's nails,
o
Time, I kept chewing and chewing.
Haunted Mind
Savageries to come,
Cities smelling of death already,
What idol will you worship,
Whose icy heart?
In a neighborhood dive
One cold Thursday night,
I watched the Beast of War on TV
Lick its sex.
