Tom Clausen

USA

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we work briskly 

into the momentum of the day 

a long list of what to do, 

once all there was, 

was to fall in love
 

 

 

asked to arrange 

the flowers in a vase 

I put them in any which way— 

so glad there are some things 

which can’t go wrong




it occurs to me 

to retreat 

from this world— 

as if another world 

might exist




in a reverie 

at the long traffic light 

it occurs to me 

why would I want 

to do more, faster




quite by surprise
my daughter asks me
if I’d like to be a woman
the gravity in the moment
I took to answer




this desire to just be
alone
with all these poems
swept away again and again 
by the bigger poem of my life 

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