March 23, 1981
(from a letter dated
December 1, 1980)



Next
from a letter not sent

I seemed to be suffering
from terminal constipation
or rather –
as the emergency-room people
seem to have decided –
from chronic constipation

and I was waking
from a nap
impatient
for the work
of the prescription

when it hit me
(a startling thought):
I can live in the world
the way it is

the prescription
however
did not work




the way it is

Contents: Headings

Contents: Poems

Index by Titles

Index by First Lines

Chronology

Preface

Cover Page