New and Selected Poems (28 page)

When two times two was three . . . ,
[>]

Where it says snow,
[>]

Where the elevated subway slows down,
[>]

Where the path to the lake twists,
[>]

Where you went to hide from everyone,
[>]

While Marquis de Sade had himself buggered—,
[>]

White
,
[>]

Who put canned laughter,
[>]

Whose demon are you,
[>]

Window Washer
,
[>]

Windy evening,
[>]

Windy Evening
,
[>]

Winter Night
,
[>]

Winter Sunset
,
[>]

Wire Hangers
,
[>]

With only his dim lantern,
[>]

Without a Sough of Wind
,
[>]

With the wind gusting so wildly,
[>]

Wooden Church
,
[>]

 

Yellow feathers,
[>]

You are the Lord of the maimed,
[>]

You give the appearance of listening,
[>]

You must come to them sideways,
[>]

You of the dusty, sun-yellowed picture,
[>]

You remind me of those dwarfs in Velázquez,
[>]

You're shivering, O my memory,
[>]

Your friend has died, with whom,
[>]

You've been making up your mind a long time,
[>]

You've combed yourself carefully,
[>]

You were always more real to me than God,
[>]

You were a “victim of semiromantic anarchism,
[>]

You were sharpened to a fine point,
[>]

 

C
HARLES
S
IMIC
was born in Belgrade and emigrated to the United States in 1954. He is the author of many books of poetry and prose. Among other honors, he received the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1990 and served as the Poet Laureate of the United States in 2007–2008.