Two Word Poems

 

Werner

Prince in exile
from a city of dreams
you've never seen

what you see every night in the dark
of a barely napping brain

are the Stasi
with their searchlights
their eyes like binoculars

their ears in stereo
surround-sound
for the timorous step

the crazy heartbeat
of someone desperate enough
to attempt the Wall.

In the city of your dreams
people sit at outdoor cafes
sipping mint juleps

and they never
have to look
behind.

 

Mint Condition

A folio-edition Saint-Exupery
in Moroccan leather, his complete
works, Pilote de guerre
to Le Petit Prince,
the pages still uncut.

A pair of Bushnell binoculars,
Natureview Plus 8x42, for watching
warblers in the nesting season
when the meadow's full
of buttercups and lupine;

JVC Compact Component Stereo System;
Schubert's Winterreise on CD
and all of Mahler's symphonies,
including the one he didn't
dare assign a number;

Everything's still
in its original packaging
unopened; as if unwanted
gifts; as if we never
knew him.