DEAR READER\\
\\
Riffling backwards through these pages seeking\\
an arresting image, a memorable line,\\
I feel you hovering outside my door.\\
Come in. Put down your pack. Rest a while.\\
\\
How did I know you were lurking here?\\
Did I "used to be some kind of 'seer'"?\\
If you're asking did I ever hang a sign\\
with a diagram of an open palm--\\
\\
You're standing under it.\\
Am I myself perhaps some kind of reader?\\
For you, the Lazyboy. Just lean back\\
And press the lever. There!\\
\\
Can I bring you something?\\
Pepsi-cola, bologna on white?\\
Oh I forgot, you've been to college.\\
My Wonder bread's not good enough for you.\\
\\
So tell me, how can I,\\
a tragic old woman, delight you?\\
Why should you linger\\
amid the bric-a-brac with me?\\
\\
Give me your palm. I'll show you\\
a thing I learned in the Old Country.\\
            Oh my God\\
\\
Wherever you purchased this book,\\
take it back. Shut it at once and keep\\
it shut. Don't make me tell you\\
            what I see.\\
\\
***

\\

ONCE UPON A TIME\\
\\
Out of the darkness came\\
the silhouetted stranger\\
in the deep creased hat.\\
\\
She watched from the curtain\\
his knock at the door.\\
I've come to rob you,\\
\\
Said his grin.  I'm the only\\
jewel in this house\\
replied her stammer.\\
\\
O God who works us from within\\
like fist puppets, what now?\\
Cordon off the walk\\
\\
With yellow tape.  Let no one enter.\\
The walls are scrawled\\
with hidden agenda.\\
\\
There was so much junk\\
and trash in the trunk,\\
I thought they might\\
\\
Overlook it, but no,\\
everything has to be explained,\\
even the tin enamelled cup\\
\\
Splattered with stars.\\
\\
\\
from Drop Dead Beautiful\\
(Wood Works Press, 1997)\\
\\ 


\\
***