Morning is such a welcome time. It doesn't demand
much from the pocket- Some coffee, a cigarette,
and the day starts, full of optimism & clarity of hope
While the Muse holds her head, and the crazy Elementals
hold down their wrath
lightly under the earth's surface.
  Some vague attention
of wind stirs the golden oats
and Ita Siamese drags her breakfast rabbit over
the roof three
times into the house and escorted out
   the door. While Aram Saroyan & W.S. Merwin
debate the paucity of their fathers' feelings
in New York Times reviews,
the deer
coming down the pathway still
   are my startled guests as this morning proceeds normally

reprinted from Just Space: poems, 1979-1989, Black Sparrow Press, 1991