For Example
I would like to be a Dolomite tower
And hear you say I mean the world to you.
Or, for example, I want to be the glistening
Pilot fish of memory baring their skin.
Memory of sand in dunes, cliffs, or carved curves
The sighing of the wind in long-needled pines.
But, I am not, for example, replete with rugged good looks
Or, for example, plenty of dead presidents.
I might, however, for example, pretend I had erudition
Or reputation with words, bright wide awake apothegms.
Redolent with virile recall of macadam fields on
Ascension Island in the equatorial Atlantic.
Or, for example, the Cocos, or Christmas, or Diego Garcia
Far southern reaches where only radio aerials hum.
Or, I might for example, be a Foreign Legionnaire, in the
Shattered aftermath of Dien Bien Phu,
Facing the Viet-Minh firing squad, a drooping cigarette
In a fascinatingly crooked small smile.
While, for example, world and time away, you held your drink in
Two hands in an obscure hotel bar, thinking of a husband.
