Quotidian Poem

    When I heard the bombing

    had begun I drove down

    to Keene and bought

    a 3x magnifying glass，

    a sketch¹ book

    and drawing pencils. Then，

    I went out behind the apartments

    to snap off seed pods， weeds

    I could not name

    and a couple of brittle² leaves.

    I saved the afternoon

    by studying edges

    of petals³， seeds，

    the marvelous veins⁴

    and sketching⁵ them.

    On the page， I wrote：

    unknown weeds 10/7/01， found

    in the patch between Applewood

    and the Historical Museum；

    on the day we began bombing.

    Then I made a pot of soup

    out of black-eyed peas

    and a ham bone

    I'd frozen from Easter.

    I threw in onions， garlic，

    parsley， cumin，

    a couple of tomatoes——

    whatever made sense.

    Enough for an army.