Against the Evidence: Selected Poems, 1934–1994

Briefcases

NEW POEMS FROM Poems 1934-1969 (1970) Briefcases It was then that carrying brief cases was prohibited in public as a mark of impotence; no man need disgrace himself, not recognizing his own shortcomings, obvious to others, especially police who carried their nightsticks in their hands. "What are men if not men," was the motto they wore on their caps in red and white, with scarves twirled around their throats, of any color for their pride. And the women, oh the women, were unhappy. It was then that carrying brief cases in public was prohibited to them too, for in these brief cases were tiny men packed neatly in small cartons to be opened in private homes. Oh the little men danced on the tables and kissed the lips of the women who gave their lips to be kissed, and the tall men who carried the brief cases withdrew into the dark rooms of the houses. Oh the women were not happy but the tiny men grew tall and all brief cases were abolished and replaced by beds that were then carried on the strong backs of the tall men who once were little. Oh the women were not happy, nor the tall men with all the little habits of the past. How did it all end? 75 I'm hard put to tell you but I did hear that the women chose to live and the once little men and those withdrawn into the dark gave birth. First Coffin Poem I love you, my plain pine box, because you also are a bench, with the lid down. Can you see my friends in a row seated at ease with themselves? I am in a coffin and it has been set against the wall of a living room. It is just before dinner and several friends are standing about with glasses in their hands, drinking to the possibilities that life offers. The coffin also could be placed as a table in front of a grand sofa, with food and drinks served on it, and an ashtray. It would be so much simpler, less gruesome to use an actual coffee table, you say, or a real bench, but ah, that would prove how rigid we must be about ourselves and cause us to languish, caught in a limitation. Wemust make one thing do for another. I am hope, in urgingyou to use my pine box. Take me to your home when I die imperceptibly. Without fuss place me against the wall in my coffin, a conversation piece, an affirmation of change. I am, sincerely, yours. 76 | Poems of the 1960s ...