Invitation To Tea

Everyone's a critic these days, especially those whose credentials don't float when tossed upon the water. Ignorance burrows into the brain like a worm into damp soil. It comes out the other end knowing everything. My grandfather knew everything because he had never read a book.

DOORBELL

Because of the spiders,
my wife won't park
in the garage. Because
of the alligators, she

refuses to park at
the curb. She drives
until she runs out of
gas, at which point she

calls me to come get
her. I do, much
to her surprise. My
wife is surprised by

everything, even
the doorbell.

GERHARD RICHTER

A voice has been
torn from the recording,
ripped out of a poem
forcefully enough

to cause permanent
injury. I don't think
it could have been
my voice as I listen

to myself singing.
But it was someone's
voice. The sound
of myself clapping

convinces me I
am your audience.

CONSIDERING

Dividing our undivided
attention into thirds,
we set out to
become the first

trio to conquer
the world. Our
failure became
the stuff of legend.

If you puncture
it with an ice pick,
it bleeds liquid
regret and self-

recrimination. Not
bad, considering.

APHORISM

A hard place to reach that's worth the climb: Where what you would like to do and what you know you should do are redundant.

SEPTEMBER

He had learned to
approach September
carefully, listening
for the sound each

leaf makes as it
switches from
summer to fall.
He was now able

to extract the
color of murder
from a lineup
of likely suspects.

He was ready to die
at a moment's notice.

PREMATURE

Death is by its
nature premature,
even the ripe death
Rilke held out for.

When life's broadcast
gets interrupted for
this important
announcement, all

is lost. A swan floats
away from its disease,
feeling ugly again.
Every death is

premature in every
important sense.