Dark Night’s Fly Catcher Dark Night’s Fly Catcher
Thatched myself Over with words. Night after night Thatched myself Anew against The pending eraser.
May 12, 2015 / Books & the Arts / Charles Simic
Uninvited Guest Uninvited Guest
Dark thought on a sunny day Languid miss in distress Everyone’s blind date With a look of having a secret Knife drawer in a madman’s kitchen A lone crow flying about in the head Suicide’s friend Soft-footed gravedigger of our hopes Hell’s night nurse Bending over a cradle.
May 12, 2015 / Books & the Arts / Charles Simic
Silent Film Silent Film
O winter evenings, When mother led me by the hand Into darkened cinemas Where a film had already started Like a dream someone else was having Into which we had walked in To find a young woman writing a letter And pausing to wipe her eyes In a room with a view of the gray sea And a bird flying about in a cage No one was paying any attention to, Nor to the white ship on the horizon, Perhaps drawing closer, perhaps sailing away. It was an occupied city, I forgot to say. We trudged our way home Bundled heavily against the cold, Keeping our eyes to the ground Along the treacherous, dimly lit streets
May 12, 2015 / Books & the Arts / Charles Simic
Night Owls Night Owls
Addicts of introspection Inmates of inner prisons Drawn and quartered Between body and soul Eyeballing time and eternity Making burglar tools Out of your brief exultations To pick the lock of their mystery Scribblers of briefs and writs Against a dissembling God Mad dogs of mystic love On your way to the pound Fellow sufferers, wretches like me And you pretty ladies too Each nailed to their own cross Let’s get some sleep if we can.
May 12, 2015 / Books & the Arts / Charles Simic