The most beautiful videos
come from reading poetry.
And they’re in your head.
How many times you speak
to the woman wrapped in a black shawl;
how many times you go up to her
where she sits on the bench
near the railroad, alone, waiting.
But she speaks no English
and the tall girl you have become;
your straight blond hair in a Grecian bun,
your voice melodious, shaking,
because the language is so difficult,
because you are traveling alone;
all this comes to you
from three or four lines
written by a student
who always sits midway in the class;
smiling if you call on her,
the blood rushing to her forehead.
~ from In the Next Galaxy (Copper Canyon Press 2004)
