A Tidings of Magpies

People Who Live Near the Hospital   by Tina Kelley Sick ones and survivors look down and see real life going on, presumably unscarred, the tricycle on the lawn, the garage door open, the truck on the highway going under the overpass, emerging on. From the solarium window the scene below looks fragile, cinematic and deaf, a model railroad, an oasis of health, the people there unknowingly blessed by the wishes of those who wait.

Sin City by David Lehman Cynthia was feeling sinful in Cincinnati. She had changed her name once, which was a pity. She was looking for a new name, But not necessarily a new flame. Was there a sir to sin with? The evening was a blur to begin with. Came the first day of spring, and in the trees Birds sang, enacting one of life's mysteries. The wind played, and the clouds wandered like the lonely poet In Wordsworth's poem. Did she know it? What was the meaning of her laughter? That depends on if you're a son or a daughter. As the river south of the city flows, Cynthia reads the poems that name her, and glows.

preface to Leaves of Grass by Walt Whiman This is what you shall do; Love the earth and sun and the animals, despise riches, give alms to every one that asks, stand up for the stupid and crazy, devote your income and labor to others, hate tyrants, argue not concerning God, have patience and indulgence toward the people, take off your hat to nothing known or unknown or to any man or number of men, go freely with powerful uneducated persons and with the young and with the mothers of families, read these leaves in the open air every season of every year of your life, re-examine all you have been told at school or church or in any book, dismiss whatever insults your own soul, and your very flesh shall be a great poem and have the richest fluency not only in its words but in the silent lines of its lips and face and between the lashes of your eyes and in every motion and joint of your body.