Mostly Recent Thanks
This week I've been reading Other People's Poems about every single thing, including thanks. All poems are a kind of prayer, prayers to language, and to what we can and cannot say.
Thanks to Lucinda who
came by yesterday to describe
a Ghanaian Love Scam and thanks
to women these last few months who
told so many difficult stories
thanks to Irene Cook my first grade
teacher who said I could be a writer
if I wanted and if I'd read some books
thanks to Alarik Skarstrom who explained
what's wrong with Crate and Barrel
thanks to so many people who have courage
and kindness and who like to eat thanks to
Ahava Dolpha Odabashian who changed our life
thanks to Barak Obama for being Barak Obama
thanks to everyone who wants to write a book
we need more books more paintings more poems
thanks to Kevin who finally finished our table
thanks to every single person who doesn't give up
and to all those people who make music a few
in particular thanks to immigrants who change this country
for the better all the time thanks to grocery stores
and hardware stores and the shoe repair man named Ralph
who's been in Catskill forever and gave me green shoe laces
yesterday because he doesn't think there's one other person
on earth who wants green shoe laces thanks to gentle dentists
and gentle everyone else thanks to you all of you
for being on this path together for being on this path