When to Slap a Woman

When loose-strife, in flower, line

one bank with ages of purple candles,

and grape vines hide the tall trees

on the other, leaves dipped into the water,

motionless, shallow, and clear. . .

the pebbled bed curved and ridged,

colors folded by the imperceptible flow;

when, in the middle of all this, here

in the wide bend of the stream,

under such stillness it seems every

thing is finally where it wants to be,

all bafflement and loveliness; the still air

white, or blue above the haze, the same

gentle blue of windows scattered star-like

in a skyline whose edge is lost in the night;

when, high above the dull and humid street

on cumulus sheets as fresh and cool

and welcome as the scent of rain,

or even at night above the incinerator's

pall when you lick your fingertips

to snuff a candle and then pinch the flame

as you would choose any flowers to toss

on the black couch; the clothes and coins

spilled across the rug in a tide line,

coins cool under bare feet in the dark,

cool your thighs, a silver wish to mine,

when shadows and shadowy lights streak

the windows and flood, and sadness, like

the moon this time, can come near enough

to feel but not close enough to touch.

--Paul Violi, 1988

Permanently

One day the Nouns were clustered in the street.

An Adjective walked by, with her dark beauty.

The Nouns were struck, moved, changed.

The next day a Verb drove up, and created the Sentence.

Each Sentence says one thing -- for example, "Although it was a dark rainy day when the Adjective walked by, I shall remember the pure and sweet expression on her face until the day I perish from the green, effective earth."

Or, "Will you please close the window, Andrew?"

Or, for example, "Thank you, the pink pot of flowers on the window sill has changed color recently to a light yellow, due to the heat from the boiler factory which exists nearby."

In the springtime the Sentences and the Nouns lay silently on the grass.

A lonely Conjunction here and there would call, "And! But!"

But the Adjective did not emerge.

As the adjective is lost in the sentence,

So I am lost in your eyes, ears, nose, and throat --

You have enchanted me with a single kiss

Which can never be undone

Until the destruction of language.

--Kenneth Koch, 1962