Rae Desmond Jones Poems

(For Christine)

i wish:
...

(To Patrick)

the little boy
in dirty shorts was
...

Offering your usual false promises,
You have arrived early this year like a blousy aunt
In a voluptuous taxi of light,
...

two girls sit side by side
in the coffee lounge at a table
cluttered with glasses streaked
with ice cream & rimmed with lipstick bows.
...

On the computer screen
three American marines lie across a road
West of Baghdad,
arms curled as though they were asleep,
...

in the hour after you left
your brother coughed & slurped his soup
& argued with Arnold Schwarzeneger.
Arnold was talking through a glass tube
...

it is raining softly
as an old Greek woman
dressed in black walks
along the path with
...

in the corner of the small square park
a rat picks at a lunchwrap
the night is quiet & the moon is still
...

when you saw
the burning marigolds
set in beds
...