Robert Rorabeck Poems

If I choose to read my poems today,
And shirk the duties out beneath the sun,
Then I will surely come to you again,
Where you might be filling your car with gas,
...

I fall asleep in the middle of the day,
Because of the wounds you gave me, the wounds
Which have come naturally, unattended;
I give myself newer chances at metamorphosis,
...

Let us pinch the cheeks of dearies,
And go out into the yard in the light they invented
Just last century,
The mowed and fertile plane,
...

When it rains, stay in the library and read of arks,
And nod your head, and pretend to study while you drift,
Your drool leaving a watermark on page six,
Like a mollusk was there and then ran down your elbow
...

moonglows the river king
Swathing the salamander’s
Saturated ululating.
...

Going down again for my lonely song,
After the thunderheads have cracked like gems,
And showed their true bodies like the lit up
Thoraxes of lightning bugs, but....
...

Coming down from your tree,
Your teeth clenching fruit, I can see who you are
As your ankles nimbly go,
But when asked if you were one of the survivors,
...

I am too much an amateur to trespass your shores,
And mingle in the calligraphy of the little sea snails,
Though my older brothers might leap and play within
Your lips’ matriculations for nautical hours,
...

Numbers join perfectly, lose their selves in
The leaden arithmetic, tumble down the blue striped,
Whitened paper,
Until they look up into your eyes and are subtracted,
...

The best specters reside underneath the bleachers
After the crowd of parents have done cheering,
And the popcorn is empty, the rains come hurdling
Oldsmobiles and Fords painted so cheery,
...