Charles Simic

Sweetest

Little candy in death’s candy shop, I gave your sugar a lick When no one was looking, Took you for a ride on my tongue To all the secret places,

Trying to appear above suspicion As I went about inspecting the confectionery, Greeting the owner with a nod With you safely tucked away And melting to nothing in my mouth.

Our Old Neighbour

Who hasn’t been seen in his yard Or...

In the Planetarium

Never-yet-equalled, wide-screen blockbuster That grew more and more muddled After a spectacular opening shot. The pace, even for the most patient Killingly slow despite the promise Of a show-stopping, eye-popping ending: The sudden shrivelling of the whole To its teensy starting point, erasing all – Including this bag of popcorn we are sharing.

Yes, an intriguing but...

Description of a Lost Thing

It never had a name, Nor do I remember how I found it. I carried it in my pocket Like a lost button Except it wasn’t a button.

Vampire movies, All-night cafeterias, Dark bar-rooms And pool-halls, On rain-slicked streets.

It led a quiet, unremarkable existence Like a shadow in a dream, An angel on a pin, And then I lost it. The years passed with their row

Of...

Everybody Had Lost Track of Time

The wide open door of a church. The parked hearse with bald tyres. The grandmother on the sidewalk Leaning on a cane and cupping her ear.

The lodger no one has ever seen Drawing her bath upstairs. The cat in the window That keeps an eye on things.

An old man carrying a chair And a long rope in the backyard As if he meant to hang himself. Words on the tip of...

Trudging These Roads

What good does it do you To complain, Charles? The fates shuffling your cards Are old and blind. You may as well look for them In every nursing home in Tennessee.

One day your car breaks down Outside some dead mill town With a couple smokestacks in the rain, And you trudge past the home With your gasoline can in hand Almost brushing against the grey bricks

Just as the...