He takes too long to explain the simplest So what if she already knew what he He says that every time he When she's hungry, she gets He leaves his She forgets to When she laughs, she makes this Sometimes he giggles out loud in his Her walk reminds him of a She could look at his He hadn't expected to She didn't know anyone could be so He'll grab it, she's had a long She'd be glad to, his eyes need a Without asking if she Before he even reaches for it He smoothes her She scratches his Sure there are times when It can be tough but No one else is quite No one else ever
From: mmagee@dept.english.upenn.edu (Michael Magee) Thoughts on K's poem: 1st, I must have been thinking about it when I wrote my poem but it didn't occur to me until the ending; 2nd, I just really like this, liked in when I heard it at B&N & like it now. The debt to Perelman's chronic meanings is tempered by the differences in tone & sensibilty - Perelman's "I" is struggling to say what can't get said about sympathy, digressses a lot. Kerry's speaker's attention is so insistently on the members of this marriage - there's her struggle to get that marriage onto paper but there's also the marriage-struggle itself. I especially like the ending - the move towards waxing philosophic which seems simultaneously twarted and possible. Good stuff. -m.