Six Postwoman Poems

Today the post-
woman brought

me a manual
on how to write

serious poetry
& not go off 

into mad flights
of fancy whenever 

a thought settles
like a butterfly

on the leaves
of your tree.

*

Today the post-
woman brought
me a concrete
poem. Just two

quatrains: but
still needed 
both of us to
carry it inside.

*

Today the post-
woman brought
me next week's
lottery numbers—
one through to

forty-four, the 
same as this, 
last, & every 
week for the 
past twenty years.

*

Today the post-
woman brought
me a pericope 
of tropes, hope 
on a slope, soap 
on a rope, two 
periscopes, & a 
Pope on dope. 

I couldn't cope. 
"Don't bring the
ingredients next 
time," I told her. 
"Just the finished
Dr. Seuss book."

*

Today the post-
woman brought

me 

Joe DiMaggio's 
Greatest Hits 

& 

Jane Austen's
Greatest Misses.

*

Today the post-
woman brought
me a cast iron
alibi. I’d wanted

one in burnished
bronze, but this
was all I could get
at short notice.