“That Too”
A long walk up West Street along the piers.
The sky—right now the sun,
the clouds, a few seconds of light yellow.
The deepest being being a longing
to satisfy the longing for a solitude of two.
Gertrude Stein’s “Composition as Explanation,” that too.
Surely the blacks and golds
are the depth of a late October afternoon. Surely
the blues and greens fired by crimson are the sea.
from A Certain Clarity: Selected Poems by Lawrence Joseph
Ed. note: Happy birthday, Larry.