THE BIRTHDAY

Oh, Mars, planet of death and of all catastrophe,
why were you placed in such ascendancy
when I was born?

Oh Mars, red, angry planet, visible in my life,
headstrong and obstinate--you make a bad wife
and an indifferent lover,
down unto the smallest most indifferent hour
I feel your force of death and shipwreck,
your red anger always checkmating me.

A woman who loves water best,
mistress of oceans and ponds and wet places,
and still so subject to your ungovernable rage?
Oh, ache of days, oh life there is no charm against.

MELLOW CHEESE

Long stoned and bony. I don't mean
that the thicket was any wider
than the gateway, that the ticket
was any cheaper than
the wrongway,
that the space around the
moon was any darker
than that face,
moon. moon.
like she yanked on the lute,
pulled the thorn from the ticket
chopped down the gateway
fell in love with the cheese.