Straits

American Poetry Review, The, May/Jun 1998 by Koch, Kenneth

It is easy to be cruel in love. One merely has not to love. Mayakowsky entered the revolution as he would his own home. He went right in and

began opening windows. How serious is it That something final be accomplished before it is too late? One entered the earth. One started flinging up diamonds. They are valuable because they are few not because they are old. Sitting with Harry in Venice in Loredana's living room It was easy to be amusing about France. One merely had not to be present There but in Venice instead. And all that the other guests said to me How inaccurate or accurate or part of some meaningful or unmeaningful or cruel or stupid or worthwhile or happy and life-and-love giving life they seem and related to literature "A house is at the opera" "Likely it won't be unsightly," "Town's bridges," "I love," Wrote Mayakowsky. It was time to disappear into a group of three And not either be one or a twosome for all eternity. In this way one could avoid love. Civilization has reached a certain point. When it had reached a lesser point was the time of one's father Who seemed a greater point by filling the horizon. Water slopped on the walks. The women wear high-heeled shoes and talk about Christ. "They say he is sure to come back." %When?" "I don't know!" It has never been any man's total destiny to be a father. To this, God may be the only exception. But when God was a man he was a Son. Many race to be first. Giselle doesn't move. The road passes through oak trees. Some trees are pink when in bloom. New strategies for naval warfare have been worked out

That show that most maneuvers are irrelevant. The most important thing is the first engagement. Gide entered the stables as he would his own home. He went right in and began opening gates.

It was like a billiard room-with six tables. A bird may fly through a window directly into a cage.

Bankers are people without a homeland. They live in apartments that look like oriental bath houses. They collect china and occasionally say something witty. We are pleased when they come to visit us.

The days pass away like a shower.

They are accompanied by actresses, who say, "The world is a gentle place." I will never marry. Oh but you must marry. It's the only way to bear a legitimate son. An illegitimate son is fine with me. I don't want to marry. It is easy to lie down on the stones. The knife craves a throat. The hangman's noose is giddier than a razor. She goes away. When he comes back to meet her the curtains are yellow. They are folded, in pleats. You say to me "It is all over." It is all over at home. As soon as you say "It is not all over" it is no longer all over at home. We had to hoist a sail into a new wind. The movie star and the novelist Are dead still not knowing anything, the scientist who improved our lives And the German shepherd also who brought us delight for years. Windows are broken and some have been boarded over. It is easy to be a glazier to the young Harder to be a plasterer to the old. Not only the strong but the weak leave a legacy. They show life is not gone When half gone. The man with the broken leg in the swimming pool is an encouraging sight. It is Andy. Andy is it really safe for you to be swimming alone today? Yes, he replies. I am looking for a strait, Away from this pool into the sea. If he cannot have everything, he will have something. The birds also found it possible to make an adjustment. They took fresh views of the clouds. One flew over here, one flew under there. An orchestra conductor raises his glove To throw it to a woman in the first row. The city was sunny because no smoke rose from the chimneys. Unchallenged, everyone remained alive. Once the boat started moving, some did not. He saw the old way of life as a bunker that had to be stormed. Do you remember the idea "Revolution"? planning for and waiting for the revolution? A painter took over Venice's outdoor cafes as his own private particular province. This was true for three and a half months even though his paintings were not very good By objective standards. For a while he had a certain panache. The world lives through long periods of drudgery so it can enjoy one splendid space. The great dutiful buildings had no tendency to fall down. But one bomb or one rocket Could change their sunny adolescence. What building cares if it is knocked down? The facade longs for a bombshell, the infrastructure for an air raid. It was daylight in the apartment. I usually visited there in the evening. Magellan sailed along the shore of America, looking for straits. He sailed into the wide estuaries of rivers, but there he found that it was fresh water. Fresh water meant no straits. Straits would be filled with salt water. But there were bays. Magellan solved his problem of circling America but he didn't return home alive. He went in and began testing estuaries. At noon he was on a coastline looking for a channel to another ocean. Vales of rocks. But there are bays. They are panoramas. Magellan had to hoist a new sail. Once it was hoisted he had to find a briny path. The wind roars like a madman. Magellan goes to sleep. When he wakes up it is the Pacific. Birds stand on the deck. They are Indians.