Breakfast With Mark Strand Poem by RIC BASTASA

i had a chance to have a breakfast
with mark strand
a sacrifice on his part since he does not know me

i am a nobody you must know

back to mark, i guess he feels like a boat stranded
on an island with no known name as me

we were eating poetry
voraciously and ink stained my lips
ink dropping from my beard
spreading in my white polo shirt

i like this adventure having breakfast with mark strand
and i look at him closely like i have a magnifying lens in my hand

there are blackheads on his cheeks
white hairs on his eyelids
cracks on his lips
he smiles a little out of courtesy and i see
tooth decay

we finished eating poetry
i set him free
i know that two hours with me can be a century of agony

because i am a nobody and because at the end
i had eaten so much poetry and excuse me...i may vomit poetry.