A Poem for a Thursday #233

Robert Hershon was an American poet. He was born in Brooklyn, NY on May 28, 1936, and died on March 20, 2021. Hershon published thirteen volumes of poetry. He was one of the founders of Hanging Loose Press which was originally a journal of loose mimeographed sheets sold in a printed envelope. Libraries and bookshops did not like the format and it was changed to a bound magazine after 25 issues. Hershon preferred poetry that did not take itself too seriously and this attitude is reflected in his own writing.

you politely ask me not to die and i promise not to
right from the beginning—a relationship based on
good sense and thoughtfulness in little things

i would like to be loved for such simple attainments
as breathing regularly and not falling down too often
or because my eyes are brown or my father left-handed

and to be on the safe side I wouldn't mind if somehow
i became entangled in your perception of admirable objects
so you might say to yourself: i have recently noticed

how superbly situated the empire state building is
how it looms up suddenly behind cemeteries and rivers 
so far away you could touch it—therefore i love you

part of me fears that some moron is already plotting
to tear down the empire state building and replace it
with a block of staten island mother/daughter houses

just as part of me fears that if you love me for my cleanliness
i will grow filthy if you admire my elegant clothes
i'll start wearing shirts with sailboats on them

but i have decided to become a public beach an opera house
a regularly scheduled flight—something that can't help being
in the right place at the right time—come take your seat

we'll raise the curtain fill the house start the engines
fly off into the sunrise, the spire of the empire state
the last sight on the horizon as the earth begins to curve

Superbly Situated
Robert Hershon