JAMES CUMMINS
Sestina

He wanted to tell her the weekend idea was 'neat, '
But he kept hearing himself repeat the word 'funny. '
She named the names of trees, flowers: sycamore, tulip.
He asked her who did she think she was, Gary Snyder?
Above the car, then over the hotel, the spring moon
Was full, orange. 'This isn't just another fling, '
She said suddenly. 'Don't dare think it's some fling.
'The Jack Daniel's arrived, hers on the rocks, his neat.
'I didn't think that at all. ' Behind her, the moon
Looked away. She fretted. 'I just - feel funny. '
Amazingly, it occured to him something Gary Snyder
Once said was appropriate. He repeated it. 'Tulips, '
She smiled back. 'Let's take a walk through the tulips. '
Later, they didn't make love. She was shy. Some fling,
He brooded. Did she really think he liked Gary Snyder -
That he, too, thought he had it all summed up in a neat
Little package? Funny, he groaned. Worse than funny.
I get it all right for once: drinks, room, even the moon
Cooperates. How often can you count on a spring moon
Slipping through the sycamores, picking out the tulips
In the night air? She should feel romantic, not 'funny'!
Lying next to her, he felt so restless, eager to fling
His body atop of hers - seeking, yet in control, his need
Ascetic, sensual, yet poised - a suburban Gary Snyder...
In the dark, she teased: 'Thinking about Gary Snyder?'
Then: 'I'm not so shy now. ' He thought about the moon,
And a Grace Paley character who 'liked his pussy neat.'
Then she was touching him, needing him, her two lips
Soft flowers, emissaries of her body, softly ruffling
Against him, moving him, so powerfully it wasn't funny...
Afterward, they were awkward, shy, trying to be funny.
They couldn't get any more mileage out of Gary Snyder.
'Some fling, ' he said, and she flung back, 'Some fling!'
But mostly they were quiet. Outside, the big yellow moon
Yawned. He made a mental note to send her some tulips.
She stared out the window, thinking about the word 'neat.'
He thought of how she'd fling her hair. And the moon...
It was finito. Next week he got a book by Gary Snyder
In the mail. That was funny. He sent her the tulips.