In the Old Army Navy
(now that David’s dead)
The elevator, “claptrap” he’d
said,
was right at the back of the
jacket aisle.
A clerk took us up—
Swung the door open, stood where
it soared, the old gym
qua tent room, white and
stripped
into us: the high windows
waved and stained, the
bleachers
bright and dusty, like large sun-lit
rocks.
Holding hands, we could see
dozens of tents (dark red,
orange, one emerald)
had been arranged around the
room, fluttering
in the fans a little
but holding on, like aspens.
.
The clerk cleared her throat.
You can go in.
She sneezed into her sleeve,
then we were climbing in the
tents like children,
on our hands and knees.
Across the room I could hear
owl-sounds he was making. A
little touched, goofy,
they spread out in the air
there.
In the Old Army Navy first appeared
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.