SUZANNE BUFFAM

 from Little Commentaries

On Shortcuts

I know a painter

Who fills every canvas with sky.

This makes his landscapes look lonely

And his figures bereft.

It’s a shortcut, he concedes.

Like adding wings to men

Or putting birds in poems.

On Parakeets

Practice concentrating on an empty stomach.

Practice making love with a terrible sunburn.

Practice walking with little dried peas in your shoes.

Sprinkle sand in your food.

Sprinkle salt in your tea.

Practice pitching your tent in a howling gale.

Soon you will be ready to live in the house on the hill

Next door to the house full of parakeets.

On Moonlight

Moonlight fills the bathroom sink.

If a person could drink from it

She would be her own ghost.

On Middle Names

Victor

Selwyn

Hamish

Adeline

Aurora

Somerset

Loomis

And Stearns

Set out for a picnic

Beneath the green

Never trees.

On Attachment

A house burns all night

In the middle of a field.

A beautiful sight

Even if the burning house

Does happen to be mine.

Sooner or later

All burning houses will be mine.