The Place

The place may be clean and tidy
and have for furniture only a mat
if there are windows if they are large
so much the better if there’s a flower
or a picture that’s special
if there is a teacher
there may be respite from sorrow
if there is rain remember the occasion
of the double rainbow if there is a marriage
there may be need of a goat
about beauty the old ones could not have forseen
if there is love
think on these things honey nuts and olives
if they are taken from nature
there will be nothing to behold
nor an eye
a poet will have to sing
of the ineffable as true
to begin with


From A Palace of Pearls (Copper Canyon Press, 2005), by Jane Miller.

Pic by rwangsa