The Will to Divest
by Kay Ryan
Action creates
a taste
for itself.
Meaning: once
you’ve swept
the shelves
of spoons
and plates
you kept
for guests,
it gets harder
not to also
simplify the larder,
not to dismiss
rooms, not to
divest yourself
of all the chairs
but one, not
to test what
singleness can bear,
once you’ve begun.
Summertime
by George Gershwin and Dubose Heyward
Summertime an’ the livin’ is easy,
Fish are jumpin’ an the cotton is high.
Oh, yo daddy’s rich, an yo mama’s good-lookin’,
So hush, little lady, don’ you cry.
One of these mornin’s you goin’ to rise up singin’,
Then you’ll spread yo wings an’ you’ll take the sky.
But till that mornin’ there’s a-nothin’ can harm you
With Daddy an’ Mammy standin’ by.
The Sleepless Grape
by Li-Young Lee
Like any ready fruit, I woke
falling toward beginning and
welcome, all of night
the only safe place.
Spoken for, I knew
a near hand would meet me
everywhere I heard my name
and the stillness ripening
around it. I found my inborn minutes
decreed, my death appointed
and appointing. And singing
gathers the earth
about my rest,
making of my heart a way home
the stars hold open.
