The rest of the poems I'm going to read to you guys tonight
are new poems that are part of the new collection I'm
working on.
I had two very wonderful years at Stanford University
as a Stegner fellow there that gave me both the time
and means to continue working on my work.
Although at the time, I was separated from my wife
as she was pursuing her MA at the University of Chicago--
a professional separation not a marital one,
so I didn't enjoy that first year very much.
Here's some dreary poems.
This one is called "Castigo," which translates
to a sentence or punishment.
"Castigo."
"The gray cell of coastal winter begins to relent at the edges.
The daffodils droop their yellow heads to rain, to periodic sun.
I've muttered my way through another foreign season,
whittled ancient driftwood turning its length again
and again in my hands till it begins to take on resemblance--
a door, a dagger, an intern heart,
finally the hinge on which these sullen hands anticipate return.
Magnolias, five days white, failing themselves
against uncivil shore breezes, the ballast
bridal dance, hinge pared down to a key--
useless, useless.
I will serve this sentence and slip into next season's parole.
Gather in my arms a bundle of camellias mistaken for roses."