I’m reading Paul Zweig. This is the fourth poem from his Selected and Last Poems, followed by my response. See here for details.
A Sadness from the Old Philosophers
by Paul Zweig
I plant my stick in the loose earth,
And now my father lies down beside me….
[Remainder of poem removed 8-23-05]
* * * *
A Wryness from the Old Wives
Click, clack says my walking stick,
& the soft buzz of a rattlesnake
shivers from the rock.
You go for water & bring back a strange new lover:
that’s how it is in the tales the old wives
used to roll between their palms.
One long noodle of clay made a bowl, a mirror
you could drink from. Coiling or uncoiling,
something always gets loose.