Found poem comprised entirely of phrases from 3 books: Breakfast At Tiffany’s, by Truman Capote; Home Safe, by Elizabeth Berg, and Summer World, by Bernd Heinrich.
All children know to take the gamble
flying at dusk with their particular talents.
Older, it takes longer before you,
wet feet dripping footmarks to the desk,
Pick up a mask,
a compact mirror, hear
entirely different notes—
flashes of bright crimson,
frayed velvet train station
birches among the blue jays.
Early, later, work steadily
as a mechanic, or a cryptic moth.
It seems a lot to ask for but
This is what life looks like
If we do not clip the leaves.
You know you’ve arrived
when you forget
what the kitchen looked like
if there are blueberries
or if the wind is blowing
in the wooden house
on the distant continent
of external appearance.
You know you’ve arrived
when the phone rings
Both you and the
birches that did not yield
are covered in loopy script.
Puff Of Smoke Poems 