Big Frank is enjoying all the poetry that he picked up at the "Open Book". He got two books of poetry by Tony Hoagland and will include one below from his latest: "Unincorporated Persons in the Late Honda Dynasty".
Address to the Beloved
by Tony Hoagland
Sweetie,
what do you mean
when you tell me to get real?
Do you mean that I should stop
slipping my hand down the back of your pants
when we are out in public?
Or that I should do it more often?
Do you mean I should acquaint myself better
with Baltic state politics?
Or scrape and wash the dishes in the sink
right after we have eaten?
Should I stop trying to flirt
with the whole wide world,
and get down to business,
or the reverse?
Get more health insurance, water the lawn,
read philosophy at night?
When you say "real," are you implying
I need to fire the shrink,
become more austere,
less sentimental about my friends?
Or do you mean that I should simply
stand here,
without being clever or cute,
enduring the light
when what I want is to hide my face
or to crawl inside you like a cupboard
and live on your feelings
instead of my own?
When you say I leave a lot to be desired,
is that a good thing?
When you said you would leave me
to my own devices,
what did you mean? Did you mean this?
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