There was no money, but, Jesus, we had fun.Dorothy Parker, Paris Review Interview (issue 13, 1956)
WHEN YOU’RE OLD AND LONELY: THE MAGNETIC FIELDS
A classic.
“The Secret” by Denise LevertovTwo girls discover
the secret of life
in a sudden line of
poetry.I who don’t know the
secret wrote
the line. They
told me(through a third person)
they had found it
but not what it was
not evenwhat line it was. No doubt
by now, more than a week
later, they have forgotten
the secret,the line, the name of
the poem. I love them
for finding what
I can’t find,and for loving me
for the line I wrote,
and for forgetting it
so thata thousand times, till death
finds them, they may
discover it again, in other
linesin other
happenings. And for
wanting to know it,
forassuming there is
such a secret, yes,
for that
most of all.
Green Buddhas“Watermelons” by Charles Simic
On the fruit stand.
We eat the smile
And spit out the teeth.
Oh, atlas“Oh, Atlas” by Joshua Beckman
look
you forgot my island.
