Leslie Kleinberg
lkleinberg@hotmail.com

12:00 AM August 1

Midnight,
by the clock but not
by the watch
     I have been keeping.
August, thinking
     back to an August
     I must have been eight.
When the dawn came up,
I was silent by the window,
Thinking is summer over.

How fast should I write the lines
Should there be constraints
Who will be reading my doubts?

I counted down from nine
Watching over a drowsy friend
Or would that be counted up?
We ate 4 enchiladas each;
It's 12:08
I'm hungry.
 

12:00 PM August 1

Closet rod

black    black black
jean jacket  poking skirthanger
velvet, shoulder of white ribby thing,
Margaret's unworn lace like boomerangs
blouse
blackblack  (tops of skirts,
tag still on) something unseen,
brown wool, tip of hippy batik thing
from high school,
2 button downs not worn often,
one saved for vague idea of catering
one in last summer's blue,
outrageously sleeved polyester
(racing car roses)
crimson poly, crisp red cotton
bought in Providence
sleeveless sixties polka
(I am not as hip as all this)
plastic bags
more black velv, stripe stripe
on the diagonal, in beige
too big blue golf shirt,
mod olive mantailored,
windbreaker.