ROETHKE'S POOL - Poem

 

ROETHKE’S POOL


(Copyright 2020, by Dave Kiffer)

 

I often wonder

What you thought

when you slipped

into that water,

 

You intended

To come out,

Towel neatly folded

The Times on the table,

 

Were you going to lap,

Or just rest and float?

The bourbon was unopened

And the sun still rising,

 

Did you look into the sky

And see the shards

Of a new poem

Or an open window?

 

Or did the dark firs

Surrounding you

Shadow you

Against the sun?

 

These are things

We will never know,

Was it simply

Time to come in?

 

The pool is long gone

Ten thousand Zen rocks

Have filled it in, their

Ripples resounding outward

 

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