Jack Benny
John Ashbery called me after he died
So you can imagine my excitement
When in that droll hyper-nasalated
Timbre quite unchallenged by death
He chatted on about the bowls of
Pitted cherries provided as snack-food
In the upper worlds and of afternoons
Climbing trees with Edna Millay to read
Comic books with her in the branches.
Then his voice dropped two octaves
And he spoke solemnly of Jack Benny:
'You can say funny things or say things
'Funny but silence was the punchline
'For Jack Benny.' And he was gone.
The Buddha
When the Buddha saw a hungry leopard
He fed himself to the leopard lest in his
Next incarnation he were to return as
Another hungry leopard rather than
A beautiful hummingbird that flies
Sixty miles an hour. I must ask what
Are the hungry leopards in my life
To which I must feed myself whether
It's by listening to an hour of bullshit
On a cellphone or accepting that I'm
Falling apart as when the Buddha
Accepted getting cut up into pieces
Because he knew that he was more
Than just his physical arms and legs.