Alicia Ostriker




Try To

Try to love the mutilated world
said the old woman
shopping with Visa
for her granddaughter’s wedding dress

My heart is in the east and I
am in the uttermost west said the tulip
casting a gaze down
at the ants in their intricate paths

Shall there be no more cakes and ale
said the dog, tired
of the routines of city life
when do we go to the beach